Binding Ties
by Hannah554
Summary: What if Elizabeth had stayed on Atlantis in The Return, spoilers throughout season three. JohnLiz, RononTeyla, CarsonLaura
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note - So here's my new fic the link to the trailer is now on my profile page, hope you all like it. Reviews are loved. **

Disclaimer - I do not own stargate or any of it's characters.

Binding Ties

Chapter 1

Elizabeth stood staring through the glass window at the briefing room where she knew her fate and the fate of her entire expedition was being decided. She was sure both Jack and Mr Woolsey were doing their best but it was clear the Ancients had made up their mind. She wished she could change it, she wished anyone could change it, it was selfish but Atlantis was her home and she wasn't sure how she'd readjust to life on earth. What could she possibly do after almost three years on Atlantis?

"You should be in there," Rodney stated as he moved to stand by her side and then walked away again. He was nervous, they all were, Rodney just wasn't hiding it very well.

"I don't know what I could say at this point that would make any difference," she replied as she tore her eyes away from the briefing room.

"You're right," John replied and she could hear his reluctance to admit defeat. She walked over to the table he was currently resting his feat on. To any outsider he looked calm and unbothered by the situation, she knew better. "They want us out of here."

"But why?" Rodney questioned his voice a mixture of exasperation and sadness at the thought they were going to have to leave Atlantis. "There are maybe a hundred or so of them, I mean they could use us, they might even need us."

"What if you were forced from your home by war only to return to find someone on your couch, eating your cheetos, watching your TV?" John questioned in his usual 'humour is my defence' way but Elizabeth had to admit it was a good point. This had been the Ancient's home long before her expedition had arrived.

"I'd be fine with that," Rodney replied stubbornly and Elizabeth almost had to smile.

"No you wouldn't," John stated pointedly and any further conversation was cut off by Jack and Woolsey entering the room. John immediately swung his feet off the table and back to the floor as he stood and took on the same nervous look that Rodney and no doubt she had. "How go the talk's sir?" he asked and Elizabeth held her breath as she waited for the answer.

"No talks," Jack replied clearly exasperated and annoyed "Listening is what we did."

Woolsey nodded his head as Jack spoke before taking over himself "It was essentially a transitional meeting. They needed to know how much time we needed to vacate the city."

"I said 48 hours," Jack stated as he adjusted the collar on his shirt "Unless you need more."

"No," Elizabeth managed to say, some part of her had been secretly and silently hoping that they would be able to stay in Atlantis. She felt as though the world was crashing down around her and there was nothing she could do about it. "Should be enough," she finished and turned away from everyone in the room. She knew her disappointment would be showing on her face. It didn't help at all that she could feel John's concerned gaze on her.

"That's it; we're just going to take this lying down?" Rodney questioned, his voice was slightly higher than usual and he was very obviously upset. "We rescued them," he continued to protest clearly angry that after the effort he'd put in to find a way to save them they were kicking him out of the city.

"And they're immensely grateful," Woolsey cut in but it was no use.

"Well they're not showing it!" Rodney protested.

"From their point of view Dr McKay, they're being extremely generous," Woolsey informed him patiently. "Keep in mind that when they left Atlantis we were basically a hunter-gatherer species."

"Yeah well did you remind them that if we hadn't hunted and gathered them out of the void between galaxies they would still be stuck there?" Rodney questioned clearly gearing up for a rant.

"We should have left them out there," John stated, it was the first time he'd spoken since Jack and Woolsey had entered the room and it was obvious to Elizabeth just how much their decision affected him.

"I know you feel as though you're losing the city," Woolsey began but Elizabeth cut him off.

"This isn't just about losing the city Richard, this is about losing an opportunity to talk with and learn from living, breathing ancients," she stated, it was a good point, not really her entire motivation for staying in the city but a good argument.

"They are willing, over time, to let us back in the city just not right now," Woolsey informed them as though trying to offer them a beacon of hope, it didn't really do much to lift their spirits though. In fact it had the exact opposite effect, it made them all realise just how futile trying to argue would be. "That way we get all the benefits of Atlantis with very little of the risks or expenditures."

"Yeah, it's not like we don't have our own galaxy to worry about," Jack finished "Colonel, I'd like you to supervise the withdrawal." Jack ordered.

"Yes sir," John replied after a moment and a quick glance at Elizabeth.

"Go ahead," Jack stated and gestured for him to leave. Elizabeth watched as John and Rodney followed Woolsey out of the room and Jack approached her. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked before turning to ensure the others were all out of earshot. "I didn't want to say this in front of McKay because I know he'd want the job."

"What job?" she asked.

"The Ancients are willing to leave someone behind as a liaison, kind of an ambassador if you will," he began and Elizabeth felt her whole body tense in response to the hope that was suddenly rushing through her.

"You know I would be more than happy to..." she began and Jack cut her off.

"I've already given your name, just thought I'd check with you before it's all confirmed," he told her and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face and she had to suppress the urge to hug him.

"So I'm staying on Atlantis?" she asked wanting to make absolutely sure.

"You're staying," Jack stated and Elizabeth could only nod her head in response.

- - -

"Have you heard?" Rodney questioned in a rather high pitched voice as he entered John's room. Most of his stuff had been packed and Ronon and Teyla had already helped him move it.

"Heard what Rodney?" John asked.

"Elizabeth's staying here," he stated and John looked at him with a mixture of confusion and disbelief, surely he didn't mean what he thought he meant. When John didn't respond Rodney sighed in exasperation and elaborated. "Elizabeth's staying on Atlantis."

"How is that possible?" John asked as his brain struggled to keep up with what he was hearing.

"The Ancients agreed to let someone stay in the city as a sort of liaison," Rodney explained "General O'Neill gave Elizabeth the job. She's not coming back to earth with us."

John still didn't know what to make of Rodney's words, Elizabeth was staying in Atlantis... she wasn't coming back to earth. For some reason that particular scenario bothered him, more than when they were being sent back to earth together. Why? He wasn't entirely sure but that didn't make it any less true.

"Are you even listening to me?" Rodney asked when John still gave him no answer.

"Yes Rodney, I'm listening to you," he replied and grimaced inwardly when he realised he'd snapped at the scientist.

"I can't believe she's not coming with us," he stated.

"You're just mad because you want the job," John half joked and Rodney looked only slightly insulted.

"That's... only part of it," he conceded and John smiled slightly, Rodney had changed a lot over the past few years and yet in most ways he hadn't changed at all.

"Look Rodney, I have a lot to do before we leave so I'll see you at the gate okay?" he questioned and Rodney looked at him for a moment.

"Fine," he said and then walked out of the room leaving John alone with his thoughts. He did still have a lot to do before they left but he could spare some time to go and talk to Elizabeth.

- - -

Elizabeth was staring out of the window in her room; the lights of Atlantis made it stand out in the dark of night. It was her home and she was staying here. It wouldn't be long before her entire expedition team departed for earth, all of the people that she had brought here with her over two years ago and the people that had arrived since then. They would go through the gate and disappear from her life, probably for many years, possibly forever.

The door chime interrupted her thoughts and she quickly walked across the room to answer it. The doors opened to reveal her military commander... former military commander.

"Colonel," she greeted, it felt strange to call him by rank when they'd been on a first name basis for years. Emotional distance, that's what she needed right now, he'd be walking out of her life along with everyone else.

"Doctor," he returned in the same all business voice she had used and she had a feeling this wasn't going to be a quick conversation so she stepped back to allow him into the room.

"How goes the withdrawal?" she asked conversationally.

"We're way ahead of schedule, ready to head out at 0800, Deadalus is going to take most of the gear, people and their odds and ends will make their way through the stargate thanks to the Ancients and their ZPM," he informed her almost as though he was giving her a status report and she nodded her head.

"You're taking this rather well," she stated and immediately regretted the words.

"Actually," he began "I'm pissed, for one thing, I'm only a quarter of the way through War and Peace... so you're staying," he finished and Elizabeth took a deep breath, she'd known this was coming.

"The Ancients agreed to allow a liaison to stay here in Atlantis so..." she trailed off not really sure what to say. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it, she was getting what she wanted, she was staying in Atlantis. The rest of her expedition weren't so lucky; they were being forced to leave and as much as Atlantis was her home, she knew it was his too.

"You going to be seeing us off at the gate?" John questioned after a short but uncomfortable silence. "Cos you know Rodney would be really upset if you didn't," he added almost as an afterthought and Elizabeth smiled slightly as she looked at the floor.

"I'll be there," she promised, it was the least she could do.

"I'll see you at the gate," John informed her, his voice cracking slightly and Elizabeth pretended not to notice as he turned and walked out of the room. She watched him go and took another deep breath as she turned back to her window. The view seemed slightly tainted now, she had been so happy about being allowed to stay in Atlantis she hadn't really thought much about what she'd be losing and what the rest of her expedition were losing.

- - -

John could vaguely hear Rodney's voice as he spoke to Helia, it sounded like he was talking about the grounding station that got shot up in their first year here. Carson was standing to his left as the final members of the expedition headed through the gate. Ronon and Teyla were present as well; they were both standing with Elizabeth as they waited for Rodney to come down the stairs.

"Rodney," John called, this whole experience was being drawn out far too much already. Rodney looked down at them and Carson gestured for him to get down here.

"You have been good friends," Teyla told them "To all the people of this galaxy."

John stepped forward and pressed his forehead against hers in the usual Athosian custom. It was surprisingly hard to say goodbye to these people. "Farewell," she said as they pulled apart and John gave her a small smile.

"Take care," he replied and then gave Ronon a quick nod before turning his attention to Elizabeth. Rodney had finally made it down the stairs and Elizabeth was saying her goodbyes to him and Carson before she turned to John. His emotions threatened to overwhelm him like they had in her quarters but he pushed them back, now was not the time. "Guess this is it," John said, feeling somewhat awkward but as much as he had wanted to get this over with before, he now wanted to draw it out as long as he could.

"Goodbye John, be safe," she instructed him and John nodded slightly.

"You too," he told her and then turned to Carson and Rodney who were waiting for him at the gate. The three of them walked towards it and at the last second John turned back to look at Elizabeth. She was the last thing he saw before he stepped through the gate and emerged in the SGC.

"Welcome home," Landry greeted them and John forced a smile and a 'thank you sir' but he knew he wasn't home, he'd just left his home and he doubted earth would ever compare. He headed out of the gate room, Rodney and Carson were just slightly ahead of him and he could hear Rodney grumbling.

They really should have just left the Ancients out there.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note – Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, I had several chapters written and for some reason half the stuff on my computer disappeared. Unfortunately this was one of the few things I didn't have backed up on my laptop yet so I had to rewrite the whole thing (curses procrastination), lesson learned. I hope it was worth the wait.**

**Steph7085 – **Angst galore in this fic or at least I hope there will be and are you sure you know me that well lol. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**WormholeXtreme **– Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Suzotchka1 – **I'm glad you liked the first chapter and I hope you enjoy this one too, thanks for the review.

**HeartyJessica – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying this so far and I have some serious plans for Elizabeth during the replicator siege so hopefully you'll enjoy them. I hope you like this chapter.

**Sparkyshimmer2010 – **I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

**Fyd818 – **I'm glad you're intrigued by the idea behind the story; it's not something I considered until recently and then bam, a fic idea lol. Good to know the parting scene turned out well and I hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for the review.

**Pirate Queens Trusted Advisor – **Wow that's a long name lol and thank you so much for your review. I'm really glad the first chapter worked out well and that you enjoyed, hope you enjoy this chapter too, thanks for the review.

**Belanna30 ****– **Thanks for the review, good to know you enjoyed the first chapter. I'm trying to keep things as close to cannon as possible for the beginning and then the further the story goes the more things will change. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

- - -

Chapter 2

A few days on earth had done nothing to make John feel more at home and with their adjustment period over the members of the expedition were being reassigned. Rodney was being sent to Area 51, Carson had been given a surgery post at the SGC and John would be meeting his SG team in the morning. The three of them had decided to get together for dinner before Rodney flew out tomorrow. The conversation so far had been light hearted and they'd avoided talking about what was hanging over them all.

"You should call her," John stated through a mouth full of food and Marcus looked slightly surprised.

"Who, Cadman?" he questioned for some reason the prospect seemed amusing. John nodded his head in response whilst Rodney merely sat there. "It didn't work out, may have had something to do with our first kiss being through Rodney."

Rodney made a face and put the down the fork that had been travelling toward his mouth, clearly he had been put off his meal. "Oh, I thought we made a solemn vow never to speak of that again."

"I remember no such thing," Carson replied with a smile as John looked on in amusement. The memory of that incident would be a source of entertainment for him for many years to come. Despite the light hearted conversation, the jokes and the smiles, the whole thing felt wrong somehow, as if something or someone was missing.

"It's not the same is it?" Rodney asked rhetorically as they finished up their meals and a heavy silence fell over the group.

"Think of it this way Rodney, you get to have your own choice of projects and your own lab. No more near death experiences," John stated though that didn't seem to make the scientist feel any better.

"Truth is I think I kind of got used to it, I don't imagine I'll find anything quite as challenging as what I faced on Atlantis," Rodney informed them but they were still avoiding the real subject, until Carson voiced it.

"I wonder how Elizabeth is doing," he said thoughtfully.

"I imagine she's fine," Rodney replied as though he was trying to brush of the subject.

"I don't know it's probably quite lonely," Carson stated and John had to marvel out how easily the doctor could talk about things that everyone else was having trouble even thinking about.

"She's in a city full of Ancients," Rodney argued incredulously as if the notion was completely absurd.

"Aye, but she's the only human there and she'll have a lot to adjust to," Carson pointed out and silence once again filled the air. Their meals finished and paid for they left the restaurant and John turned to look at his two friends.

"I should get going, I have to be at the SGC early, good luck Rodney," John said and he immediately headed for his car.

Carson and Rodney could only watch him leave "He misses her more than he lets on," Carson stated after a moment and Rodney turned to him. Whatever protest he had intended to give died away before he'd even started, he knew Carson was right. "We should probably follow his example," Carson finished after a moment. "Good luck at area 51, Rodney."

- - -

Atlantis seemed different somehow, maybe it was the fact that the Ancients were back in control and far more of the city was not only accessible but functioning. As true as that was it was more likely that the difference came from the fact that her expedition were no longer there. When she walked through the corridors she didn't see the familiar faces she was used to. Instead of the expedition uniforms she was so used to seeing, everyone was wearing the beige Ancient uniforms. There was nothing left of the earth expedition, everywhere she went all traces that they'd ever been there were gone.

The only place that she could go and still see a little bit of the home her team had turned Atlantis into was her own room. She'd been allowed to stay in the quarters she'd been using before Helia and her crew had arrived. Of course the office was no longer hers; she's had to remove all of her stuff from there within hours of her team's departure. That office belonged to the leader of Atlantis... and that was no longer her.

It had only been a week but she already felt very isolated. There was no one here she could relate to, no one she could really talk to. When she wasn't negotiating, she was in her room, only making the occasional venture to the cafeteria and would ultimately end up eating back in her room. She felt out of place as though she didn't belong, that was a feeling she'd not had since coming to Atlantis. When she'd stepped through the gate over two and half years ago she'd felt instantly at home.

She was sure given time things would settle down, she'd make friends among the ancients and she'd find her place but she knew she'd never truly be one of them and that thought left her feeling more alone that ever.

"We're not asking to be allowed back into the city, we're simply requesting an alliance. One that would benefit both our peoples. For us this is an amazing opportunity to learn from you and we have plenty to offer in return," Elizabeth stated hoping that they were finally going to get somewhere in these talks. She wouldn't say that the Ancients were stubborn and selfish but they seemed very reluctant to get involved in any kind of alliance with earth. It kind of hurt that after they'd rescued these people, taken good care of the city and left gracefully when they'd been kicked out they still didn't fully trust them. At one point she'd very briefly entertained the notion that the Ancients viewed humanity as the lesser race, that they didn't respect them as a civilisation but she'd pushed the thoughts aside, they weren't going to help her talk to these people.

"We are still reacquainting ourselves with the galaxy and with the city itself, we are not yet in any position to ally ourselves with you or anyone else," Helia told her and Elizabeth got the feeling they were just going in circles.

"We can help you with that; we've been in this galaxy for the last three years. We know a lot more about what's going on here that you do and that is knowledge we are more than willing to share. We're also more than happy to provide any resources that you need until you're back on your feet again. What we're asking is that you allow us to help you and in return you help us," Elizabeth argued as she tried to fight off the growing headache. They weren't getting anywhere, normally by this point in negotiations she'd have liked to see some progress being made or at the very least see the chance for progress. Right now she all she was seeing was a brick wall, one she was running into repeatedly... that would explain the headache.

"Perhaps we should call an end to the talks for today," Helia stated and at Elizabeth's nod of agreement she left the room along with the few other ancients that had been present. Elizabeth stayed in her chair for a moment, the briefing room where they were now holding their talks had been used by her and her team so many times over the past few years. She could almost hear their voices as they discussed whichever crisis had popped up out of the blue.

She sighed. She was tired, frustrated and her head hurt. She'd stop by the infirmary for one of those wonderful ancient drugs they kept giving her for her headaches and then go to her quarter to sleep it off.

- - -

After a week on the new Athos the Athosian settlement had been set up with surprisingly little help from the Ancestors. There was still much work to be done but it was good enough to live in. It was late and most people were in their tents no doubt sleeping by now. Teyla was not one of them; she'd been having trouble sleeping since they'd come here.

Atlantis had obviously spoiled because it seemed she was having trouble readjusting to this life. She'd gotten so used to life within the great city that tents and fires didn't seem enough anymore. She hated the thought, this was the way of her people, the way she had lived for most of her life but she couldn't banish the unwanted thought from her mind. Her visits to the Athosians over the last few years had not kept her prepared for the sudden and permanent change. She kept her thoughts to herself though; they would do no one any good.

She had known through living and working with the people of earth that the Ancestors or Ancients as they had called them were not as infallible as she and many people in the Pegasus galaxy had believed. Even still it had surprised her almost as much as the rest of her people that the Ancestors had not only taken them from what had become their home but they hadn't helped them settle into their new one in anyway. She had hated her people being uprooted again; three homes in as many years (four if you included their brief stay in Atlantis); it was not good for them.

The move to the mainland of Atlantis had been a good one; they were more protected there than they had ever been before. They had gone two and half years without fear of culling, the people of earth had allowed them to continue trading through the gate, they'd been more than happy to transport people between Atlantis and the mainland. They'd assisted the Athosians whenever it was required and whenever something had come up to the threaten Atlantis they had considered the safety of the Athosians along with their own. To go from that to having the Ancestors relocate them here was a big change and not one she felt was good. She wouldn't say her people had become dependent on those from earth, far from it, but she'd felt more secure in her people's safety and she knew her people had to.

It hadn't been a one way relationship; the Athosians had supplied Atlantis with food and other resources and had gone through the gate to trade on their behalf. It had been an alliance, one which had truly been of benefit to both sides and one which would be greatly missed.

Movement beside her caught her eye and she turned her head in time to see Ronon approaching. He wordlessly sat down next to her beside the fire she was using for warmth. She knew he was having trouble sleeping as well but there was something else, something which caused her to worry. He was not the type for this life, everyday he got more restless and she knew the time would come where he would leave to continue his fight against the Wraith.

"You can't sleep?" she asked simply as a way to fill the silence.

"No, you?" he questioned and she shook her head as she looked at the fire.

"I cannot," she replied with a heavy sigh she had not meant to release. This was proving to be large burden and for a moment she found herself wishing she could talk to Elizabeth. She had been a leader as well after all and the only other person who had truly under stood the responsibility and sometimes strain that came with that role. Perhaps in time she would be able to do so, it was not as though Elizabeth had returned to earth with the rest of her people. For now though they both had new lives to settle into and the ties to their old ones would only make that harder for them both.

"We're almost set here," Ronon commented after a moment and Teyla looked around her at the settlement which was still growing.

"It is... adequate," she stated, missing Atlantis more in that moment. Silence settled between them again and this time Teyla did not feel the need to break it. Their futures were uncertain and the unspoken truth that sooner or later Ronon would leave hung over them. Neither of them mentioned it, voicing it would not change the fact that it was true.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Steph7085 – **Good to know you enjoyed the second chapter and I hope you enjoy this one too, thanks for the review.

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the second chapter. I'm keeping the story as close to cannon as possible for the beginning but the further it goes the more it'll change. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Fyd818 – **Sorry to hear about your three hundred page fic, I would have cried, I'll remember not to procrastinate in the future now lol. I'm glad you liked the changes to the dinner scene; I needed it to happen a little earlier in the story. I feel bad for Elizabeth though, I've stranded her out there all by herself lol. I'm wanting to look into how Atlantis has changed everybody in this fic, especially Ronon and Teyla and I think showing Teyla struggling to live the life she used to is a good way to do that. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Aoife – **Wow, thanks for your review, I'm flattered that more story is swaying you to John/Liz. I'm trying to keep the story cannon for the beginning but it'll change more and more with time. If you want more information on Atlantis a good place to look would be I hope you enjoy this chapter.

- - -

Chapter 3

Elizabeth had learnt early on that many of the Ancients did not trust her. What she had done to gain this mistrust, she didn't know but it was making her stay in Atlantis all the more uncomfortable. This wasn't how she'd thought it would be, she'd thought this would be an amazing opportunity to learn from these people and to try and form some kind of relationship between them and earth. That it seemed wasn't going to happen, the more she tried the denser the brick wall she kept running into seemed to get.

She missed her expedition team, Atlantis felt somehow wrong without them. She missed Carson always trying to make her sleep more and Rodney and Zelenka always bickering about something. She missed Teyla's quiet council and even Ronon's brooding presence. She had to admit, to herself at least, that she missed John most of all. He'd become her closest friend over the last few years, she missed the subtle ways he cared, like making sure she had lunch. That was why she found herself wondering through the control room in the middle of the night to the balcony she and John had always used.

It had become their balcony; hers and John's, no one else ever used it as though it had become some unspoken rule among her people. The Ancients had no problem using it though and she found that it actually bothered her. This had been her refuge and it had been taken away from her along with everything else.

The ocean breeze felt cool against her warm skin and she welcomed the familiarity of it. Like her room, it was one of the only things that still felt like home; so long as she was alone here she could feel more at ease. She half expected John to walk out of the door behind her at any second, coming to make sure that she was alright, but he wasn't coming this time.

She questioned her decision to stay here, she was struggling to let go of the way things used to be. Perhaps it would have been better if someone else had done this job, someone who hadn't lived in Atlantis and gotten used to the way life was here. Then she wondered how she would have reacted to being sent back to earth along with everyone else. She didn't think that would have gone down any better than this.

It was a good twenty minutes before anyone interrupted her silence. The door behind her opened and she turned to see one of the Ancients, a slightly older looking man, his brown hair was greying slightly but he still held that aura that seemed to follow the Ancients around. "My apologies Dr Weir, I didn't realise anyone was out here."

"That's fine Taros, I was just about to go back inside anyway," she told him and he moved to stand beside her.

"How are you finding the changes to Atlantis?" he questioned almost as if he had been reading her thoughts.

"It's a lot to adjust to but I'm doing fine," she replied, it was almost true.

"It must be strange, being the only human in a city full of ancients," he stated and Elizabeth turned to look at him. Besides the talks this was probably the longest conversation she'd had with anyone in the last two weeks.

"I'll admit it's difficult but I've dealt with worse," she informed him and he nodded his head slowly.

"I have read many of the reports from your people; you had to endure a great amount to protect this city. We are in your debt," he said calmly and Elizabeth felt her annoyance get the better of her for a brief moment.

"Yet, no one trusts me," she responded bitterly.

"The others..." Taros began but then trailed off and sighed "You have to understand Dr Weir, the last we knew the human race was merely..."

"A hunter-gatherer species, yeah I got that," she cut him off "We've come a long way in the few thousand years since then."

There was silence between them for several moments before Taros spoke again. "You are not as alone as you believe you are Dr Weir," he stated before he walked back inside to leave Elizabeth with her thoughts.

- - -

Over two weeks and the team still felt like a bunch of strangers, he could see the start of the relationships building up between the other three members of his team but to John, they were still strangers. He knew he was holding onto his old team, he'd had the best team he could have asked for. Ronon and Teyla had been exceptional and even Rodney had been a valuable member.

He knew these new guys were good, they wouldn't have made it into the SGC if they weren't better than most but they would never be SGA-1. He missed Ronon and Teyla, though he'd never say that out loud. He missed their sparring sessions even if he had always come out of them injured. Carson was still his doctor; the two of them would get together for lunch whenever they were both free. He spoke to Rodney regularly and he even saw Lieutenant Cadman and Major Lorne wondering around on occasion.

Ronon and Teyla's presence was very obviously missing and so was Elizabeth's. He knew when he left Atlantis that it would be hard to let go and adjust to life here, he hadn't thought it would be impossible. Who had he been kidding though, Atlantis had been... well Atlantis. It had allowed him to find a part of himself he'd lost when he'd been assigned to Antarctica. It had brought out the leader in him and allowed him to feel like he belonged, like part of a real family, possibly for the first time since he had been a kid. To lose the place that had done all that for him was bound to be like cutting off a limb.

They were on yet another routine mission, exploring a new planet and meeting the less advanced people that occupied it. In true John Sheppard style, the routine mission turned into a run for the gate and his was relieved when his team stumbled through the stargate into the SGC gate room. The iris was closed behind them blocking the arrows he was sure would still be following them.

"Colonel," Landry greeted as John followed his team down the ramp "What happened?"

"Well sir, the people of P5C 871 have it seems fully embraced Origin and refuse to even have non believers on their planet let alone listen to our blasphemous lies," John informed him still slightly out of breath from his mad dash to the gate.

"Alright Colonel, debrief in an hour," Landry stated exasperatedly and John muttered a quick 'yes sir' before leaving for his post mission physical. His story was becoming one heard far more frequently at the SGC; the Ori seemed to be gaining ground.

He wasn't entirely sure which was worse, Ori or Wraith. The Ori had this religious campaign and seemingly otherworldly powers but the Wraith sucked the life out of people. Weighing both sides up, he couldn't really say which one he'd rather be facing. Though if he had a say he'd probably pick the Wraith, simply for the fact that it would mean he was back in Atlantis.

He arrived in the infirmary to see Carson talking to Laura and when the two looked at him and parted ways he gave them a suspicious stare. Laura gave him a look as she walked past, daring him to make comment while she was still present, he chose to keep his mouth shut until she was gone and way out of earshot. He hopped up onto the infirmary bed where Carson walked up to him and started doing the usual work up, making notes as he went.

"I thought that didn't work out," John stated trying to keep the smile of amusement of his face at the slight blush creeping up Carson's neck.

"I may have called her a couple of weeks ago," Carson replied and John had to chuckle.

"You mean the night I told you to," John said smugly.

"No," Carson answered quickly as he shone the pen light in John's eyes rather abruptly making John wince and pull back. Carson however seemed to show no remorse as he did it again. "It was the day after."

"Of course it was, does Rodney know?" He asked knowing this would be another chance for him to make Rodney squirm at the unwanted memory.

"Not yet, there's nothing to tell. We had dinner last week and we're having dinner again this week, no need to torture the lad over it again," John couldn't help but smile at the doctor's obvious embarrassment at being caught.

The physical finally done Carson allowed John to leave "Grab lunch in the cafeteria later?" John questioned as he jumped down from the bed.

"Sure, if I have time," Carson replied distractedly as John headed toward the exit. He turned back at the last minute determined to get in a parting shot.

"Hey, you could bring Cadman with you," John stated and he only saw a glimpse of Carson's reaction before he made a beeline out of the room.

- - -

Ronon walked through the Athosian settlement which was up and running, it would be a while before it was a hundred percent but it was getting there. The Athosians had been good to him, they'd taken him in without question and he'd been more than willing to help them out. Rebuilding their home had kept him busy, given him something to do but now that the task was done he was getting restless.

His years as a runner had changed him, even before he had never been the type to sit still and do nothing. Now he had trouble just staying in one place for too long. Atlantis had been different, at first he'd felt the need to get out. When Sheppard had first asked him to stay and join his team Ronon had been unsure if he'd be able to stick around long enough. He'd made the decision to stay simply because he knew the people of earth were the best hope of defeating the Wraith and he wanted more than anything to be a part of that. Two years had kind of turned the once confining walls into home though, he'd felt a little more settled and less suffocated.

As grateful as he was to the Athosians, this wasn't Atlantis and this wasn't the type of life he was even capable of living. He needed to get back out there and fight, the war was continuing without him and the thought made him all the more restless. He knew there was only one reason he was staying here and he wasn't going to voice it, not even in his own head.

"Ronon," he heard someone call and turned to see Halling heading in his direction. "Have you seen Teyla?" he questioned.

"Not this morning," Ronon replied and Halling nodded his head quickly.

"I would like to thank you for your help in rebuilding the settlement," Halling said and Ronon felt himself go into shut down mode, he didn't do thanks very well.

"No problem, have you checked down by the river, she usually goes down there," Ronon stated changing the subject.

"She perhaps spends too much time down there, thinking," Halling replied thoughtfully. "She misses the people of earth and she worries, not just for her people but other things as well."

Ronon had no problem picking up the hidden meaning behind Halling's words though he hadn't needed it to tell him what Teyla was worrying about. She knew as well as he did that this was not a life Ronon could live. It hung between them, an unspoken truth that sooner or later was going to come out.

Halling left Ronon to his thought and went in the direction of the river, probably in search of Teyla. What was it the people of earth always said when situations became too much for them to handle?

"I need a drink."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Emma – **Thanks for the review, the Replicator attack is coming up. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **I'mglad you liked that line in the last chapter and Elizabeth may be getting allies but her troubles are just beginning. Good plan for wiping out the Wraith and the Ori lol. Hope you enjoy his chapter and thanks for the review.

**Fyd818 – **The balcony will always be John's and Lizzie's no matter who is running at Atlantis. I hated tptb's decision to break Laura and Carson up too but that's what fan fiction is for. I'm glad you liked the last scene between Ronon and Halling and Ronon's line just seemed to fit, a little dig at the human race lol. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Stargatesomeone – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the trailer and that the fic did not disappoint. Hope you enjoy this chapter too.

**Steph7085 – **I don't like the thought of Liz all alone either curses self Glad you liked that Carson and Laura are back together and thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 4

It had been five weeks since her expedition team had left Atlantis and besides the occasion ally she had found among the city's current occupants she was no more at home than she had been a month ago. Sitting in the briefing room with Helia and a small number of her people for yet another round of talking in circles, she wondered if maybe this was a lost cause. She wasn't one to give up though and too much was riding on her ability to come to some kind of arrangement with the Ancients.

"Again, that's not what we're asking," Elizabeth tried to stress; this conversation was definitely going in circles. "We understand that you've been out of the loop for the past ten thousand years and that you need time to reacquaint yourself with the galaxy. We know that that must be you're first priority but an Alliance between our peoples can benefit both sides tremendously. We have much to offer you and we are more than willing to give it for the chance to learn from you."

"We do not yet have the time to teach you." Helia stated.

"But _in_ time you will and until you're ready we can help you, as I've said before we know more about this galaxy right now than you do. We've built up alliances with many of the civilisation's here, the Athosians being a perfect example. We know how to deal with most of the peoples of the Pegasus galaxy like the Genii. We want to help you but you have to be willing to let us," Elizabeth continued feeling yet another one of her headaches coming on.

Their talks were interrupted when one of the Ancients, she'd never learn all their names, walked into the room and requested that Helia follow her to the control room. Helia quickly called a temporary halt to their talks, far too eagerly in Elizabeth's opinion and left the room. Elizabeth followed her out and to the control room where the young Ancient who had called for her pointed to the large screen. Elizabeth had analysed the contents of that screen enough times over the last three years to know what she was seeing.

"Replicators," she said quietly and Helia glanced at her only for a moment before looking back to the screen.

"Looks like they'll be here in less than two days," Helia said calmly and there wasn't even a trace of worry in her voice. The Ancient woman turned to look at her and Elizabeth's concern must have been somewhat evident because she took it upon herself to allay her fears.

"Do not be concerned Dr Weir," Helia instructed her "They are heading to Atlantis expecting to find you and your expedition; they do not know that we are once again in control of the city."

Elizabeth failed to see why that should stop her from worrying, it didn't change the fact that they were on their way. "Why should that make me worry less?"

"They have a law written into their base code that prevents them from harming their creators," Helia informed her and Elizabeth gave a slow nod of understanding as she looked back at the dot on the screen moving closer to Atlantis. Her hand unconsciously went to her neck and she could almost feel Niam's hands strangling her again, could almost hear the sounds of the 'hospital' they'd put her in.

That was not a place she intended to revisit and she walked out of the control, she would inform earth of this latest development during their scheduled check in later.

- - -

Three years of fighting the Wraith, the replicators and the Genii and this was what it had all led up to. Standing on a planet in his own galaxy watching as one of his men inspected some curious looking fauna and wishing he could just gate home already.

"How's it going there Bambus?" he called to the young officer who looked up at him, probably wondering how to respond to the question. He most likely thought his C.O would be less than interested in learning about whatever fauna he was looking at, he'd be right too.

"Fine, sir," Bambus responded.

He watched his officer move around the plant and shake slightly as the ground beneath him did the same. It happened almost in slow motion, he could see it happening but there was absolutely nothing he could do about it from his current position. Bambus fell; it must have been about twenty feet, not a particularly bad fall but it probably hurt nonetheless.

Wallace ran over to where the young man was now lying in a babbling brook looking slightly dazed but otherwise fine. He tried to help him up but in a move that would have made Rodney jealous, Wallace lost his footing and fell over too. John resisted the urge to roll his eyes, they were his men after all but the situation just seemed ridiculous. He walked over to the two fallen men, the final member of his team right behind him.

He moved to help Wallace but it seemed the man had broken his ankle and was now going to have to hobble his way back to the gate. Bambus was already back on his feet when John helped Wallace up and then looked at his team. "I think it's time we head back to the gate."

Getting no protest or disagreement from his team John helped Wallace limp his way to the gate while the other two followed a few steps behind. He'd make some sarcastic remark or joke but the situation was just too pathetic to warrant one. Instead he kept his mouth shut until they were back at the gate.

"Bambus dial the gate," he ordered and watched as his officer did as he was told. He looked sufficiently embarrassed and ashamed of himself so John figured no comments were necessary. The wormhole engaged and John walked through the event horizon carrying Wallace's weight in one arm. As they emerged on the other side Wallace gave a choked grunt of pain as he stood on his ankle and once again John had to stop himself rolling his eyes. "Get your damn weight of your foot and you'll be fine."

"Tell me you didn't engage the Ori, Colonel," Landry said as he approached the bottom of the ramp and John handed Bambus off to the waiting medical staff.

"We didn't engage the Ori... Sir," he replied "Bambus here was inspecting some curious fauna when he discovered that the ground underneath him wasn't stable, he fell twenty feet into a babbling brook. Wallace there was trying to help him get back up when he lost his footing and broke his ankle."

"I see," Landry said clearly trying not to be amused.

"Never thought I'd miss Rodney McKay being a member of my team," John stated.

"Well chemistry doesn't happen overnight," Landry told him encouragingly.

Or in this case, ever, John thought but he kept it to himself.

"We'll debrief as soon as Wallace is out of the infirmary," Landry informed him.

"Yes sir," John replied and winced inwardly at how unenthusiastic he sounded about the idea. Nobody liked debriefings but he sounded like he'd rather be shot than attend. The alarm and Walter's voice alerted them to an off world activation.

"I'll see you then Colonel," Landry stated and John got the distinct impression he was being ushered out of the room and he had no desire to protest so he simply left with nothing more than a curious glance over his shoulder.

- - -

"General Landry," Elizabeth greeted as the screen finally flickered to an image of the SGC's current commanding officer.

"Dr Weir," Landry returned with a small smile "How go the talks?"

"Slowly but we're starting to get somewhere," she replied, it wasn't a complete lie, they were going slowly and they would get somewhere... eventually. "The real news is that the Replicators are heading back to Atlantis to make another run at the city."

"Really?" Landry questioned.

"The Ancients don't seem to be too concerned, apparently they have a law written into their base code that makes it impossible for them to harm their creators," she informed him.

"And they're expecting to find our people," Landry concluded for her and Elizabeth nodded her head slightly.

"According to Helia they're going to run into some kind of surprise, they're not elaborating much on that," she told him and watched as he nodded his head. "So you can pass it on to Colonel Sheppard and Dr McKay that if they hadn't rescued the Ancients are returned Atlantis to them we..."

"Might have lost the city anyway," Landry finished for her.

"Yeah," Elizabeth replied, she doubted it would be of much comfort to them but it might help a little. "I should get back to the talks, Weir out," she finished when she got no protest. Landry's face disappeared from the screen and the wormhole shut down leaving her once again alone with the Ancients.

Once this little crisis was over, strange that the Asurans heading to Atlantis was considered a small crisis, she should probably visit Teyla and Ronon on Athos. They were the only familiar faces she had left here in the Pegasus galaxy and she shouldn't have waited this long to go and check up on them. It would be nice to get away from the Ancients for a little while and see how the Athosians were doing in their new settlement.

For now though, she had replicators to worry about and talks with the Ancients, she wasn't sure which was worse.

- - -

Rodney could hear the feint thuds over the phone line and knew John was playing darts in his office. He had to envy the man slightly; he still got to go off world while Rodney was stuck here. "I hate it here," was the vocalised version of his thoughts.

"How's that possible?" John questioned incredulously.

"It's true," Rodney complained and it really was.

"They gave you everything you wanted, you're own lab..." John began.

"Yeah, it's too big," Rodney interrupted looking around the giant chamber he was currently standing in. How they expected him to get anything done when the things he needed were at opposite ends of this giant dome was beyond him.

"Handpicked assistants," John was continuing.

"Yeah, sycophants, every one of them," he complained, he was determined to hate absolutely everything about this place, even the things he knew he should like. It wasn't Atlantis, it would never measure up.

"Even your own choice of projects," John was still listing.

"Well that's not true," he replied solemnly.

"Well, other than going back to Atlantis," John finished for him and Rodney sighed, he really did hate it here and he knew he was going to have to admit the truth; it wasn't just Atlantis he missed.

"You know the truth is I..." he trailed off; he wasn't actually going to say it was he?

"What?" John prompted and Rodney knew that John knew what he was about to say and hated him all the more for making him say it.

"Yeah I don't, I don't wanna use the term lonely but er...there are certain people who... I miss," he admitted reluctantly.

"Me?" John questioned and Rodney drew the line, there was no way he was admitting that he missed Sheppard.

"You? You I'm talking to on the phone right now and having dinner with tomorrow so not so much but... other people, people that I might never see again... like Elizabeth," Rodney rambled off and decided it was a good evasive answer, not only did he not have to admit missing Sheppard but he'd moved the subject onto one he knew would stop his friend asking more questions, cruel? Yes, but if it worked.

"I know what you mean," John told him clearly ending the subject.

"Hey, at least you still get to go off world with a team of your own," Rodney switched subjects once again, feeling slightly bad.

"Oh yeah, the best and brightest," John replied sarcastically "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Yeah I wouldn't miss it... hey you know I," Rodney began but the line went dead and Rodney flipped his phone shut after a moment "Yeah." Perhaps bringing Elizabeth up as a way of changing topic hadn't been the best idea.

He turned to look at the ridiculously large lab behind him and sighed, he really hated it here.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **Thanks for the review, you really would think they'd get better positions wouldn't you. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Lantia4eva – **John Liz really are the best, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and thanks for the review.

**Step7085 - **I wanna hug John and Liz too, thanks for the review, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Stargatesomeone – **Thanks for the review, replicators will be arriving soon and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Windlg – **Thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 5

Elizabeth watched the screen in front of her as the small dot representing the jumper the Ancients sent approached the much larger Replicator ship. The Ancients had all seemed completely unbothered by the Replicators and though Elizabeth knew the Replicators were programmed not to harm the Ancients, she didn't feel all that comforted.

"Are you sure only sending one jumper is a good idea?" Elizabeth asked as only she and Helia paid any attention to the screen. The other Ancients were going about their business as usual only glancing at the screen occasionally.

"It is impossible for them to harm us," Helia told her with a small smile, she seemed almost amused by Elizabeth's worry.

"We have established communications commander," a voice informed them through the radio and Helia's amused expression became serious. "This is Commander Helia, the city you are approaching is once again under Lantian control, stand down and return to your planet immediately or you will be..." Helia began but was cut off when the dot on the screen that had once been the Jumper disappeared.

Elizabeth's eyes widened as she looked at the now blank spot on the screen, she heard Helia give the order to raise the shield but it came too late. The city shook with the impact of the Replicator's weapons and Elizabeth was forced to grab the console in front of her to steady herself. Helia walked away shouting orders about drones and shields but Elizabeth looked back at the screen, she had a horrible feeling she knew how the Replicators had been able to fire on the Ancients. She couldn't be sure though and that information would be no good now so she decided it would be best to keep her mouth shut.

The city shook once again with the force of another impact and then another, they weren't going to hold out long this way.

- - -

He hated planes.

There was never enough leg room; there was always some kid who kept running up and down the aisle making way too much noise. Some guy nearby who somehow managed to sleep through it yet his ridiculously loud snoring made it impossible for anyone else to attempt the same and all this was after the unexpected delay at the airport beforehand.

The plane finally landed in Colorado and the seat belt sign switched off. Rodney was one of the first passengers to be out of their seat collecting their things from the overhead storage and on his way down the aisle to the exit. He was more than relieved when he finally stepped off the plane and went in search of his luggage which he was sure would have been mixed up and ended up on another plane, it was probably in Switzerland now.

Fortunately that did not seem to be the case and his one luggage bag appeared on the terminal waiting for him to pick it up. He grabbed it and headed to where he hoped Carson would be waiting for him. He saw Carson waiting with a soda in his hand and a young blonde he prayed wasn't Cadman standing by his side. John had let it slip over the phone a few days ago that Carson was seeing Laura again and made Rodney swear under threat of slow torturous death to pretend he didn't know. On closer inspection the blonde was not Laura and Rodney sighed in relief just before Carson spotted him.

"Hello Rodney," Carson greeted as the young woman walked away to meet up with whoever she'd been waiting for.

"Carson," Rodney replied.

"How was the flight?" his friend asked taking the smaller bag Rodney had been carrying.

"Let's not talk about it," was Rodney's only answer, he was dreading the flight back. He'd always hated planes and memories of the more comfortable, shorter flights in the jumpers only made him hate them more.

"I have to get to work soon so I'll have to drop you off and leave I'm afraid," Carson informed him and Rodney couldn't really complain. Carson had taken his time to come and pick him up in the first place.

"That's fine, what time are we meeting at the restaurant?" he asked as they left the airport and made their way to Carson's car.

"About 7.30," Carson replied just as Rodney spotted the good doctor's car, did he have to park so far away?

- - -

The Ancients had all armed themselves within moments of the first reports that the Replicators were now in the city which had been a couple of hours ago. Elizabeth had to give these people credit, they weren't giving up. Helia had pushed a weapon into Elizabeth's hands and despite the fact that she hated the damn things she took it anyway. Fortunately John had made her learn to use weapons after the Genii stormed the city in their first year here. At the time she'd agreed simply to make him stop pestering her about it but now those lessons might actually save her life.

She silently thanked him for being so annoying and then focused her mind on the current situation. Weapons fire could be heard in the corridor outside the control room and Elizabeth moved toward it along with several other Ancients. Risking a look around the corner she saw the Asurans heading in their direction and was almost hit by stray weapons fore before she could duck back around the corner.

She felt someone grab her hand and pull her back into the control room, it took her surprised mind a moment to register that it was Taros who was currently dragging her along. "The city is lost Dr Weir," he stated still puling her even though she was now following him.

He stopped in front of the controls for the gate and began dialling what Elizabeth recognised as the address for earth. She watched the gate spinning in the large room in front of them as each chevron locked into place. The sounds of the fire fight were getting closer and she knew she didn't have long. She moved quickly over to the communications console and ducked down just in time to avoid the laser fire being sent her way. Moving to the side of the console she looked around the edge and fired at the Replicator that had made it into the control room. She stood back up and looked at the doorway where Helia's body was lying and she swallowed back the sadness and anger that swept through her.

She heard the gate engage and quickly opened a channel to earth "Stargate Command this is Dr Weir."

- - -

"You should see the size of the place, it's ridiculous," Rodney complained as he shovelled a fork full of food into his mouth. "It's like a giant chasm and everything I need is on opposite sides."

"You just don't like it because it's not Atlantis," Carson informed him and Rodney tried to look insulted.

"That is not true... much," he admitted after a moment.

"Don't worry Rodney, you're not the only one," John stated "I think we all miss it."

"What's your new team like?" Rodney questioned sounding slightly hopeful that John wouldn't like them.

"They're great," was all John could say "They're not SGA-1 but they're great." What else could he say, they got themselves into accidents that made Rodney look co-ordinated and they felt like a bunch of strangers to him even after six weeks on the same team.

"Rodney, I do have a confession to make," Carson said changing the subject for which John was grateful. He knew what the doctor was about to say and just hoped Rodney didn't give him away. "I'm seeing Laura again."

To his credit, Rodney did a great job of looking shocked and dismayed as he lowered his fork to his plate. Mentions of Cadman tended to make him lose his appetite. "Oh why would you do that?" Rodney questioned in dismay and John had to resist the urge to laugh.

"Because she's a very nice woman and..." Carson began to explain but Rodney held his hand up to stop him.

"No I don't mean date her though that was my next question. I mean why would you tell me that while I'm eating, I was enjoying this meal," he stated.

Before Carson could respond John's phone which he'd set on the table beside him started to ring and he picked it up to answer it "Sheppard."

A moment later Rodney's phone rung as well and John watched him answer as a voice told him he was to come into the SGC immediately. "What's going on?" Carson questioned as John hung up.

"So much for dinner," he stated as Rodney put his phone away. They quickly paid for their meals and headed out to their separate cars. John couldn't help but wonder what could be going on that had them both him and Rodney being called into the SGC, Rodney didn't even work there.

He pulled up in the car park and got out of his car watching Rodney and Carson as their cars parked close by. His two friends got out of their vehicles and the three of them entered the first elevators into Cheyenne Mountain. They spent the entire ride in silence until they switched elevators into the SGC.

"Why would they be calling Rodney in here?" Carson questioned and at the slightly offended look Rodney gave him he added "You work at area 51 Rodney, not here."

"I imagine they have some problem that they need my expertise for," Rodney stated airily and John tried not to roll his eyes. The elevator doors opened and they headed through to the control room where they were immediately sent up the stairs to the briefing room. General Landry was already waiting for them.

"Take a seat Gentlemen," he began immediately and they did as they were told without question, clearly he was going to get straight to the point. "We got this data burst about twenty minutes ago," he told them pointing his remote at the large screen at the end of the briefing table. The screen flickered to a distorted image of the Atlantis control, static clearly interfering with the transmission. John watched as Elizabeth moved into view looking slightly shook up.

"Atlantis is under attack from Replicators," she told them and John felt his entire body tense up "Somehow they figured out how to override their programming, the Ancients were taken off guard and we've lost most of the city already." There was a pause as Elizabeth turned her head at the sound of gunfire before she looked back at the camera "Request immediate evacuation."

"They're coming," someone called from off screen and Elizabeth turned to look at him and then toward the control room door.

There were more gunshots and they all watched as Elizabeth raised her own weapon to fire at something off screen. Streaks of light were hurled back in her direction and Elizabeth moved off camera to avoid them just before the camera itself was hit and the screen went black. Landry switched it off and then tuned to look at the group.

"She never made it to the gate," he informed them and John was suddenly glad Carson was there because he was sure his heart had actually stopped beating for a second. "I was informed they had a law written into their base code that made it impossible for them to harm the Ancients. How the hell did this happen?" he asked and John unconsciously looked at Rodney.

"It is remotely possible that in trying to rewrite Niam's base code that I... er we may have opened the door for them to make other changes," Rodney stated and John once again found himself trying not to roll his eyes, trust Rodney to share his achievements when they'd caused a disaster.

"You did this?" Landry asked sounding slightly angry and John had been serving under him long enough to know he was way more than slightly angry.

"At the time it had been the only possible way to save the city," John jumped in to defend him when Rodney seemed at a loss for words "How it happened doesn't matter, they may have changed it on their own. The question is, how do we fix it?"

"That's why I called you in," Landry stated a little more calmly and John didn't like whatever undertone he was picking up from the General's voice. "I have my orders, the Deadalus is already on the way, now what I need from you is..." he said turning back to the screen behind him and bringing up a plan of Atlantis. "What's the best way to get a nuke passed the shield?"

There were several moments of silence in the room s they all tried to figure out if they'd actually heard what they thought they'd heard. "Well I have no idea," Carson finally broke the silence.

"I didn't call you in doctor," Landry stated and Carson quickly shut up again.

"You want to blow up Atlantis?" John questioned in shock.

"It's the gate way to earth," Landry reminded them.

"And we have an iris," Rodney tried to argue gesturing out of the large windows to where the earth stargate stood.

"Yes we do," Landry replied getting more impatient with them "But thanks to your intergalactic gate bridge all they'd have to do is rewrite your macro and they can come out anywhere in the Milky Way."

"But those Macros are very complicated," Rodney continued to try and protest but it did him no good.

"_They_ are very complicated Dr McKay, they just rewrote their own damn base code, I think they can handle it," Landry stated his impatience was obvious now as he began to raise his voice.

"Sir," John ventured knowing this was probably going to get him yelled at as well but he had to try "Dr Weir may still be alive. I know the city like the back of my hand, just give me sixty marines and some of Colonel Carter's new erm..." he trailed off trying to remember the name for the damn things.

"Anti- Replicator weapons," Rodney filled in quickly for him.

"Yeah, those things," he finished

"I'm sorry Colonel but I have my standing orders, Dr Weir agreed with these orders as a condition of her remaining in Atlantis. The deadalus will be there in a little under four days. Now how do I get a nuke passed their shield?"

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **Thanks for the review, I'm trying to keep it close to canon so the situation with Dr Lee is very similar minus the seducing lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Nogigglingmajor – **Telling him no really doesn't work does it, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Lantia4ever – **I'm going t kill the producers for that too, Liz was my fave character. I hope you enjoy this chapter, this is where it starts getting interesting and thanks for the review.

**Stargatesomeone – **I love the part of the episode too where the gang all disobey orders, hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for the review.

**Steph7085** – Glad you liked the last chapter and sorry for ending it there, hope this one makes up for it though I have a feeling you'll be mad at me again lol. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

- - -

Chapter 6

The team left the briefing room and headed immediately to John's office. Atlantis's fate seemed to be sealed, the Deadalus would nuke the city in a few days and then the one place John could truly call home would be gone... along with Elizabeth.

"Now those Replicator thingy majigys you're talking about," Carson began as he paced the room.

"Let's just call them ARG's," John interrupted, he seemed to like naming things.

"They're energy weapons, they disrupt the link between the nanite cells, the replicators literally fall apart when you fire on them," Rodney explained briefly and with far more patience than he usually had.

John's mind however was already working on a plan "You know... hypothetically, Teyla and Ronon would be more than willing to help, if we asked," he stated casually and the team seemed to quickly pick up on his intentions.

"We'd have to gate into Atlantis though, the replicators would raise the shield," Carson stated in the same tone John had used.

"Well I did write a backdoor into the shield programme a couple of years ago when Kolya stormed the city. So, I mean it could hypothetically let us get into the gate room," Rodney informed them all, none of his usual arrogance at his achievements in his voice.

"General Landry was worried that the Replicators would re write your macro to take them to another gate, does that mean you could?" Carson asked.

"Could you take us somewhere like, just talking here, the Athosian settlement where Teyla and Ronon are?" John questioned meaningfully and that seemed to take the conversation from hypothetical to an actual plan.

"We'd need a jumper," Rodney stated.

"And er," John began clicking his fingers as he tried to remember what he'd just named those weapons. "Some of those ARGs and someone to make sure Landry doesn't close the iris on us."

"I can take care of that," Rodney told them and everyone nodded their heads in agreement with the plan.

"Elizabeth could still be in that city, let's find her," John stated, Carson and Rodney seemed to fully support the sentiment. This was why he missed his old team so much; a team Carson and Elizabeth were as much a part of as the rest of them. They understood each other and worked well together, he didn't think he'd ever have that with his new team.

- - -

"Why do I have to do this?" Carson questioned as he and Rodney walked down the corridor.

"The jumper is in its storage area under guard, we need for one of us to be added to the authorised personnel list and there's only one guy who can do that," Rodney explained.

"Who, you?" Carson asked and Rodney gave him an odd look.

"No, why'd you think I was gonna say me?" Rodney questioned slightly indignantly.

"When you talk like that it's usually you," Carson stated as Rodney used his access card on the elevator.

"No sadly Dr Lee's been the one heading up the jumper research project because they refused to send him to Area 51 for me," Rodney replied "But I think I should be able to add one of our key cards to the authorised personnel list but I have to do that from his office."

"That doesn't explain why I have to be the one to do this," Carson said realising that both he and Rodney had lowered their voices conspiratorially. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, there wasn't even anyone around.

"Because I have to access his computer, it'd be kinda hard to distract him at the same time, I'm a genius not a super hero," Rodney told him as they both entered the elevator.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?" Carson asked him incredulously. "I don't even know the guy."

"Well here's what I'm thinking, Dr Lee is a fanatic of this game called World of Warcraft," Rodney began but Carson interrupted him.

"Is that the one with talking trees in it?" he questioned and Rodney looked at him in exasperation.

"No, that's Lord of the rings," he told him as if he should have known that. "Look, it won't take me long, just let him do all of the talking."

The elevator doors opened and the two men made their way to Dr Lee's office. Rodney knocked on the door and waited for the muffled 'come in' before he entered and Carson followed along behind him. This was so not going to work.

"Dr McKay, what are you doing here, I thought they assigned you to Area 51?" Dr Lee questioned as he registered who was walking into his office. Rodney subtly placed himself by the computer as he answered and Carson walked over to the scientist.

"I was in town and they called me in, they needed my expertise for an urgent matter," Rodney stated in his usual arrogant tone and Carson sent him a warning look. "Anyway, I don't believe you've met my good friend, Carson."

"No I haven't," he said as he turned to shake Carson's hand.

"Yeah, you two have something in common, Carson is big fan of that game you play, World of Warcraft," Rodney stated and Carson watched as Lee's face lit up as he turned to Carson. What exactly had Rodney gotten him into?

"Really?" Dr Lee asked with barely concealed excitement.

"Yeah, I didn't get to play much being all the way in the Pegasus galaxy but now that I'm back..." Carson trailed off and as Rodney predicted Lee started talking.

"I understand, I'm a level 75," he stated rather proudly and Carson nodded as he moved to stand on the other side of Lee. The scientist turned in his chair to follow Carson's movements leaving his back facing Rodney. "Mage, specialising in Engineering and duelling, you?"

Carson glanced over Dr Lee's shoulder to where Rodney was on the computer, he gestured for Carson to keep talking. "Level 75 wow, I'm only level 60," he stated solemnly having no idea what he was talking about. Dr Lee looked down as he continued talking and Carson looked over at Rodney who once again gestured for him to continue.

"Well I had the beta of the expansion back so I had a leg up on most people, what's your race?" he asked and Carson swallowed back the momentary panic and pulled together enough of his thoughts to answer, he was never gonna pull this off.

"Er... Mage," he replied, that being the only race he could be certain actually existed, at least he hadn't mentioned talking trees.

"I'm trying to increase my enchantress skills but it doesn't seem to be going very well," Lee told him sadly and Carson had no idea how to respond to that. What the hell were enchantress skills?

"Erm, maybe you could give me a few pointers, it'd be great to learn from a er level 75... Mage," he said and Lee gave him an odd look and then began talking about weapons and the like. Carson looked over at Rodney again who was still typing away on the computer and he glared at his friends back and then turned back to Dr Lee.

It took Rodney another couple of seconds to finish what he was doing and then put the computer back the way he'd found it. "Wow, will you look at the time," he said looking at his watch and distracting Lee from his lesson on World of Warcraft. "We're does it go?"

"What?" Dr Lee questioned as he turned to Rodney.

"We're late," Rodney stated to Carson "We should go, see ya Bill."

"Bye," Carson added as he ran out of the room after Rodney far too eagerly. He'd kill Rodney for that later; right now they had a job to do.

- - -

John made his way down the corridor with Carson and Rodney in tow, all of them dressed in their black off world gear. They moved slowly careful not to get caught and they were doing quite well until...

"Colonel?" a familiar voice questioned and John turned around to see Major Lorne standing right behind them, since when had the guy been that sneaky?

"Major," he replied and Evan gave them all a curious look as he regarded their current attire which John now noticed matched his. "Going somewhere?"

"Just got back," Lorne stated "You?" John opened his mouth to say whatever lies happened to exit but before he could say a word Evan stopped him. "I heard about Atlantis, you're going aren't you?"

It wasn't so much a question as a statement and John could already guess what was coming next and he knew the Major well enough by now to know he wasn't going to be deterred. "Welcome to the team."

John turned around to continue on his way but froze when he saw Wallace standing there on his crutches looking at him. Damn it, sneaking around the SGC was hard. "Wallace, what are you doing here?" he questioned.

"General Landry wanted to talk to me about reassignment," he stated looking curiously at the group.

"Oh right," he replied remembering the long conversation he'd had with Landry earlier. "Sorry about that."

"Are you already going on missions without me?" the young officer sounded slightly hurt and that made John feel just that little bit worse about having him booted off the team. Not that it mattered much now, he was either going to get killed or court marshalled for what he was about to do, he wasn't sure which he'd prefer. He took a step passed Wallace whilst Carson distracted him; he quickly checked the corridor to make sure no one else was going to stumble across them.

"Sorry about this," he said as he zatted Wallace and the young man fell to the ground unconscious. Lorne opened the door of the storage closet nearby whilst John and Carson carried Wallace into it. Rodney placed the crutches by the man's side and they closed the door. Hopefully they'd be long gone by the time he regained consciousness. "Can't afford to have him tell Landry he ran into us," he stated as they moved on.

The Jumper storage bay was quiet as Carson, Rodney and Evan moved to stand beside the jumper. John took a look through the front window to see only Sergeant Siler working inside the jumper, poor man, from what he'd heard he was always getting hurt. His injury list almost rivalled those of the original SG1 members.

He wordlessly walked to the back of the jumper and zatted Siler casting an apologetic glance at him as his unconscious form rolled out of the jumper. "Let's move," he shouted and the tell tale signs of footsteps told him the rest of the team was joining him. He sat down in the pilots chair and put his zat down as Lorne sat beside him.

"You set?" he heard Rodney call.

"Go for it," he replied and a few seconds later Rodney joined him them in the jumper. "They're going to be able to get through my hack pretty quickly," Rodney informed him.

"That's alright, I don't need much time," John stated as the back of the jumper closed and with everyone safely in their seats he started up the jumper.

It descended into the gate room and through the front window he could see that Rodney had been successful in keeping Landry from closing the iris on them. Speaking of the General, his voice came flooding through the radio, clearly he was not happy. "Colonel Sheppard stand down, that is a direct order."

John ignored him and instead piloted the jumper into the event horizon.

- - -

It wouldn't be long now, Teyla knew and so did he. Ronon wouldn't be able to stand not going out there and fighting for much longer. It would only take something small now, a trigger which would seal his decision and then her friend would leave. She'd go with him if she could, she wanted to be a part of this fight as much as he did but she couldn't abandon her people like that. She was their leader and that responsibility had to come before everything else.

She walked toward the edge of the village, her eyes trained on the trees a short distance away. A few of the kids had run off into the forest a couple of hours ago and had yet to return, she knew they had most likely gotten carried away as they played or got a little turned around in the trees so she wasn't too worried. Halling had gone after them along with Jinto, the boy had grown so much in the last few years and she was sad to say she had missed seeing it. She had been so very close to both Halling and Jinto, she hadn't realised until now how much her time on Atlantis had changed everything.

Not only had she gotten used to the luxuries she enjoyed in Atlantis and the way of life that came with it but the friendships she had shared with her people had suffered, she felt very distant from them all now.

She turned around when she heard a noise behind her to find Ronon approaching. It saddened her all the more to realise that soon she would not find him there anymore. "They not back yet?" he questioned and she shook her head.

"They have not been searching long," she stated and watched as he nodded his head and came to a stop in front of her.

"It's getting late though, if they're not back soon I'll go and help them search," he stated and a smile touched her lips. She was not the only one to have been changed by her time on Atlantis. She had not imagined when she had met him, when he had tied her and John up in the cave that he would turn out to be her closest friend. Thinking of that day only reminded her once again of how much had changed and she found herself missing her friends from earth once more. Perhaps tomorrow she should try and contact Atlantis and arrange to visit Elizabeth, maybe talking to her would help. "You miss them," Ronon stated and Teyla turned to look at him in surprise.

"I do," she said simply but there was a sadness to her tone she hadn't intended to reveal.

"So do I," he admitted and again she was surprised by his openness. "Except maybe McKay."

She smiled again, she knew he didn't mean it; he missed Rodney as much as the others but the comment was so very him and for some reason it helped. He seemed to realise that because he nodded and gave her a small smile. "Thank you," she said and he put a hand on her shoulder. The contact caught her off guard and she briefly wondered if she should check his breath for signs of alcohol because he was never normally this open. There was something in his eyes though, something she didn't dare identify and something that told her he was most definitely not drunk.

Sounds from the trees caught her attention and ended their conversation. The missing children were running toward the village with smiles on their faces so she knew nothing was wrong. A moment later Halling, Jinto and to their surprise, Laden followed the children. They watched as the small group approached and Laden greeted them both with a smile.

"Ronon, Teyla, can we talk?" he questioned and Teyla shared a quick glance with Ronon before she gestured for the Genii to follow her to one of the tents.

- - -

The Pegasus gate floated before them and John could do nothing but stare at it and keep the Jumper stationary. All this sitting still was giving him too much time to think and his mind seemed to be on instant replay, Elizabeth's final transmission to earth was playing over and over. What had the replicators done to her, had they captured her and thrown her in one of Atlantis's cells? Were they trying to get information from her? Was she hiding somewhere in the city? Was she even alive?

He quickly wiped the last question from his mind, she had to be alive and he had to keep believing that. If he lost that hope then he wasn't sure he'd make it through this mission. He'd left her there, he'd walked through the gate and left her where he thought she'd be safe and now she was...

"My turtles!" Carson exclaimed interrupting John's thoughts and drawing curious gazes from the rest of the Jumper's occupants.

"What?" Lorne questioned as he turned to look at the obviously upset doctor.

"I just bought some wee baby turtles and no one knows to feed them," he stated and John narrowed his eyes as he turned and made a few adjustments to the Jumpers position.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Lorne stated reassuringly.

"If not they make good soup," John stated and Lorne nodded his head with a look of agreement.

"I figured I'm back for good so I might as well get a pet and... I'm allergic to cats and er well I work too long to be fair to a dog so I went with turtles... I've probably killed them," he stated with a guilt ridden tone and John figured they'd all been stuck in the Jumper long enough.

"Anytime now McKay," he said impatiently.

"Oh trust me I'm going as fast as I can," the scientist replied in annoyance.

"Poor little buggers," Carson stated still talking about his turtles.

John looked at the controls and then looked back quickly as the holographic screen popped up and informed him the gate was active. "The Milky Way gate just activated," he said and then glanced over his shoulder at Rodney. "Did you do that?"

"No," Rodney informed him as an image of General Landry appeared on the screen.

"Colonel Sheppard, I'm going to assume that you're still at the midway station waiting for Dr McKay to rewrite his macro," he began calmly but John got the distinct impression he was in trouble. "I understand what you're doing Colonel, hell I'll even call it brave but listen carefully and this includes you Major," he continued and John shared a brief look with Lorne before looking back at the screen. "If you don't turn that ship around immediately and come back to the SGC, I'll see to it personally that your careers in the military are..."

John cut the message off their before Landry could finish that sentence and then looked at Lorne "That way we won't know what he was about to say," he stated and Lorne cocked his head to the side in agreement.

"Okay, Okay I got it," Rodney informed them and John took a deep breath, this was it.

"Alright, last chance to change our minds," he said giving everyone the chance to voice their disagreement if they had any. When no one said anything he took that as a go ahead and nodded as he turned back to the controls. "Alright, let's do it."

- - -

"I knew you would never come to me so I thought I would come to you" Laden began and Ronon knew he was about to be given a well rehearsed speech. "Our relationship has been... strained... but we need to put all that behind us now."

"We do?" Ronon questioned incredulously, he couldn't say he really agreed if the nagging urge to shoot the man was anything to go by.

"Well your friends have all returned home and you've been asked to leave Atlantis. So the question is... what will you do next?" Laden asked.

"We are helping my people rebuild the settlement," Teyla stated obviously not liking the idea of the inevitable proposal anymore than he did.

"Yes but the settlement seems finished," Laden said somewhat smugly "Beside is carpentry and clearing brush really the best use of your skills?" he questioned and Ronon looked down at the floor, damn.

"Get to the point," Teyla ordered with a barely hidden anger in her tone. The two of them had successfully managed to avoid mentioning the subject for six weeks and now Laden had walked in and thrown it all out there.

"Come work with me," Laden suggested and Ronon almost snorted at the concept "I understand your reluctance, in the past the Genii have hardly been the shinning beacon of hope in the galaxy."

"In the past?" Ronon once again questioned incredulously.

"We are growing stronger every day," he stated seriously seemingly ignoring Ronon's sarcasm "and we have a number of operations planned that could seriously cripple the Wraith."

"What do you have in mind?" Teyla asked as though she was seriously considering the Genii's offer and Ronon resisted the urge to look at her.

"Well, I am of course reluctant to go into specific details here," he told them and Ronon stopped resisting the urge to look at Teyla and finally glanced at her "But suffice to say that the plans are dangerous and in need of your unique abilities."

"We're not interested," Ronon finally said Laden smiled slightly at him.

"Well that's too bad although not entirely surprising. Give it some time Ronon, I wonder how much joy you'll find as a tava bean farmer," Laden stated and Ronon levelled him with a glare feeling that nagging urge to shoot him get stronger. Laden smiled once again as he stood up and walked out of the tent at one side. Ronon waited until he was gone before he too stood up and walked out of the other side.

"Ronon," Teyla called as she stood up to follow him.

"I'm not gonna start working for the Genii," he said as he ducked his head under the tent opening and headed toward the small fire where something was being cooked.

"We would not be working for them," Teyla argued as she caught up with him. "Merely with them."

"Forget it," he stated feeling frustrated, Laden's parting shot still echoing in his head.

"Since Atlantis was returned to the Ancestors the Genii are the most powerful and organised group if humans fighting the Wraith," Teyla informed him as though he didn't already know that.

"The Ancestors will do something," he said stubbornly and Teyla hesitated before answering.

"True, but they neither need nor have they requested our help, the Genii have," she reminded him and he continued to stubbornly cling to his principles, he was not going to work for the Genii. "I know that you are anxious to return to the fight but..." Teyla began and Ronon knew where this was going, Laden had opened the door and Teyla it seemed was going to be the first one of them to step through it and he knew he was going to have to follow. "My people are farmers."

Ronon took a deep breath "Maybe this isn't the place for me then," he finally stated, there he'd done it, it had finally been said. He turned to walk back into the tent sensing Teyla begin to follow him.

"That smells great," an all too familiar voice announced and both Ronon and Teyla spun around to see John, Rodney, Carson and Lorne stepping out of the trees. "I hope you saved some for us."

"John," Teyla laughed, it was the first real smile he'd seen from her in weeks. "It is wonderful to see you, all of you," she continued.

"We miss that, whatever that is," John stated with his own smile but Ronon knew something was going on. They weren't even supposed to be in this galaxy and add to that the black off world gear and weapons they were carrying and he knew something was up.

"Something's wrong," he voiced and John's face became serious.

"We need to talk," he stated and Teyla quickly nodded and gestured for them to follow her inside the tent.

"What is going on?" she asked immediately.

"The replicators attacked Atlantis, Elizabeth was able to send a transmission to earth but she never made it to the gate. The SGC has sent the Deadalus to nuke the city in a few days, it's possible that Elizabeth is still alive and we have a plan that will hopefully allow us to find her and rescue the city but we need your help to do it," John told them getting straight to the point before Rodney stepped forward with his black back pack and opened it to reveal weapons.

"These are our Anti Replicator weapons," he stated and Ronon took a step forward to get a closer look.

"Do they work good?" he asked and Rodney moved to pick one up.

"They emit a directional energy beam that disrupts the connection between nanites," he explained handing one of them to Ronon.

"Not what I asked," Ronon said as he took a look at the weapon.

"Yes, they work good," Rodney stated unhappily.

"Good, so you need us because we know our way around the city?" Ronon questioned John.

"I need you because you're part of our team," John told him.

"There may be hundreds of replicators on Atlantis by now," Teyla stated in concern.

"I wouldn't ask you to come with us if I didn't think we could do it," John replied "But there's a good chance Elizabeth is still alive and still inside the city. I'll be damned if I'm going to leave her to a bunch of replicators, so you with us?" he questioned and Ronon looked at Teyla and then back at John, no answer was necessary.

- - -

With Ronon and Teyla now on board John once again fired up the jumper as Ronon and Teyla geared up in the back.

"Okay, I think I've loaded up the GDO, it'll lower the shield when we dial," Rodney stated.

"Go for it," John instructed and Rodney took a nervous breath.

"Alright, dialling Atlantis," he informed them as he began dialling the gate. They all watched as the stargate in front of them engaged. "That's conformation," Rodney said pointing at his computer as Ronon and Teyla joined them in the front. "Gate shield has been lowered."

"I hope this little plan of ours works," John stated as he looked at the gate, now that he really thought about it, it was a risky and slightly insane plan but hey, those were the ones that always seemed to work out for the best.

"Yeah, you and me both," Rodney replied a little nervously.

John piloted the jumper forward into the event horizon; he really hoped he came out the other end.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one too, thanks for the review.

**Steph7085 – **No not Fred! Lol. Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoy the last chapter and of course Lorne coming in, the team still needed their sixth member. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Stargatesomeone – **Good to know you like the twist I gave the episode; I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

**Kuroima – **The team still needed a sixth member and I figured Lorne was a good choice; it was kind of a tossup between him and Laura. I'm glad you're enjoying the story and thanks for the review.

**Lantia4ever – **The turtle bit was one of my fave parts of the episode, there was all this silent tension and then Carson suddenly blurts that out lol. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

- - -

Chapter 7

John could only take a brief moment to be relieved that they had emerged in the gate room intact. The Asurans were already firing at the Jumper and the shields would only hold out for so long. He quickly activated the radio as everyone remained silent. "Authentication Code, Alpha Six Delta Charlie Niner, Dr Weir, you there?" he asked through the radio only to receive static in response. "Elizabeth, do you copy?"

Again there was no response and John felt a little bit of the hope he had been holding on to slip away. "Perhaps she does not have a radio with her or is unable to reply," Teyla stated, always the optimist.

"Drop the package," John instructed, praying that if Elizabeth was still in the city that she was nowhere near Stargate operations.

"Package is away," Rodney informed him.

"Hold on," he told everyone and then braced himself for his next manoeuvre. He backed the Jumper up and felt it crash through the window as well as part of the wall behind the stargate. The ship shook violently and it took all his effort to keep control of the Jumper as he was almost knocked out of his seat. The shaking stopped and he continued to pilot the Jumper backwards. Out of the front window they saw the bomb they had left behind explode taking with it most of stargate operations.

Once the fire ball, which was bigger than they had expected it to be, disappeared, there was a moment of silence before John felt his usual need to break it. "That went well," he stated and flew the Jumper away from Atlantis and into space.

"It's good to be back... however briefly," Rodney said as they flew away from the planet.

"I feel like I'm gonna be ill," Carson stated sounding a little shook up.

"Don't be," Ronon said in his usual helpful way.

"Just take some deep breaths," Teyla added and John heard Carson doing as instructed behind him and then Rodney's heavy and frustrated sigh accompanied it.

"With all those hits we took it's going to be impossible for me to convert the shield back to a cloak," the scientist informed them, clearly he was annoyed but Rodney was always annoyed when things didn't go exactly to plan, which was rather a lot in their case.

"By impossible you mean...?" John trailed off hoping this was just one of those times that Rodney exaggerated.

"I mean not possible, what do you think I mean?" Rodney replied getting more annoyed.

"Well, hopefully we took out the sensors when we blew the tower, how long do we have until they rebuild?" Evan asked.

"A few hours," Rodney began and then got that look he had whenever he had some genius epiphany that would help them save the day. "If we time this right, this could work to our advantage."

Bleeping caught everyone's attention and John brought up the holographic screen that informed them they were approaching something in space. "Got him," John informed everyone in surprise; it wasn't that he thought this wouldn't work but he'd expected it to be harder to find their floating friend. "Right where we left him."

Rodney clicked away on his computer "That's him."

"Who else would it be?" Ronon questioned rhetorically.

"True," Rodney conceded "His power levels are barely registering, it's no wonder the replicators didn't find him. "

"Alright, I'll swing around and pick him up," John told them "Watch yourselves, I'm closing the bulkhead." He closed the front compartment and piloted the Jumper back to Niam's co-ordinates; he managed to pick him up and sealed the back compartment again before Jumping out of his chair and instructing Carson to take the controls.

Opening the back compartment again he found Niam lying on the floor. John, Lorne and Ronon and aimed their weapons at him watching him for any sign of movement, when they didn't get any John gestured for Rodney to come forward and do his thing.

"Are we not vulnerable to the same nano virus with which Niam infected Elizabeth?" Teyla questioned and John swallowed back the not so small wave of anger at the frozen replicator, not happy memories.

"He's been floating in space for over a month now, existing in such a harsh environment and direct solar radiation has severely diminished his power levels. We're fairly certain he's almost completely incapacitated," Carson informed them and John watched Rodney hesitate slightly as he knelt beside Niam.

"Okay this is good, his power levels are minimal but not too minimal, I'm fairly sure he doesn't have the juice to regain consciousness," Rodney informed them as John and Ronon continued to stand close by with their weapons at the ready. Niam picked that moment to twitch and Rodney jumped back away from him. "I was fairly sure."

"Just load the programme," John instructed him wanting to get this over with and Rodney nodded and knelt back down beside Niam.

- - -

The conversation was almost bickering as they approached Atlantis but it ended when John announced they were only a mile out. Rodney informed them that they weren't close enough as Teyla sat down beside John, of all their crazy plans; this was probably one of the most insane so far.

She sat there watching the Jumpers sensors and it seemed the Replicators were wasting no time in getting rid of them. "Drones," she informed everyone as she looked up at the small, golden lights that were approaching them.

"Hang on," John warned as he did some of his usual, great flying to avoid the Ancient weapons. The Jumper ducked, dived, swerved and went through gaps that were almost too small and Teyla had to hold her breath more than once. The Golden lights continued to chase them around, several of them impacted Atlantis in their attempts to follow the Jumper.

"Sir, you're hitting the city," Lorne informed him obviously.

"Thank you for that Lorne," John replied as he continued to try and avoid the drones and the buildings. "I'll try to run the drones into you least favourite buildings, anyone have any requests?" he asked them and then glanced over his shoulder "McKay," he called into the back.

"It should be working," Rodney told them.

"Well it's not, working" Carson shouted.

"If I give him any more power he'll wake up and kill us all," Rodney shouted back angrily, everyone was clearly on edge.

"Sheppard can't keep this up forever," Ronon told him and Teyla could tell he was getting annoyed as well.

"Shields have been damaged," Teyla stated almost in exasperation as she had to raise her voice above the noise.

"Alright I've had enough," John stated echoing her own thoughts "I've got a different idea."

Teyla was forced to once more hold her breath as John dived the Jumper into the ocean around the city and it took her a moment to relax again when she realised the drones were no longer following them. With some debate they decided to head for what they were sure was an underwater Jumper bay. John was able to guide the Jumper to as stop when Rodney opened the doors.

"Now I just have to repressurise the compartment and..."Rodney trailed off followed by several beeps from his laptop. "It's not letting me do it."

"Water's not draining out," Carson pointed out obviously after several moments' silence.

"It is however draining in," Lorne told them as he walked into the back compartment where sure enough, water was dripping into the Jumper.

"Oh not again," Rodney said as he looked at the leak in dismay and John stood up to follow Lorne through to the back.

"We must have taken some damage," he said as he started examining the leak.

"I just wanna point out that this was not my idea," Rodney informed them all in annoyance, which told them all he was afraid.

"You said get us close to the city, this is pretty damn close," John argued in frustration.

"And yet, no cigar!" Rodney exclaimed helpfully from where he was sitting.

"Just open up the outer doors, I'll figure something else out," John instructed him and went back to examining the leak. Rodney turned to his laptop and it was only a few seconds before they heard the beeping that indicated they had run into yet another problem.

"Oh dear," Rodney groaned attracting everyone's attention "I don't think I'm gonna be able to open the outer door." There was a moment where everyone just shot him expectant glances, waiting for him to give further explanation. "I think it might be jammed," he stated.

"Might?" John asked getting more frustrated as everything seemed to fall apart all at once.

"Okay, is," Rodney corrected himself.

"Well that's unfortunate," John replied in what Teyla could only describe as an understatement.

"I'd have to agree with you on that," Rodney stated.

"This part of the plan isn't going so well," John said and there were several moments of silence where nobody knew what to do.

"Is there a manual override?" Lorne asked as he left John still checking out the leak.

"Yeah, but it's in the base control room," Rodney replied with his head in his hand, sounding rather fed up with the whole situation.

"Okay, I'll swim to it," John said.

"Which is sealed from the other side," Rodney informed him which seemed to put an end to that idea.

"Of course it is," John sighed as he lifted himself closer to the leak only to drop back down a moment later. "We've got more than one fracture here, we're running out of time," he told them all and now Teyla sighed. Their list of problems seemed to be growing by the moment. There was another silence as everyone contemplated their options, or lack thereof before Rodney began clicking his fingers.

"There should be an access hatch," Rodney told them as he went back to his computer.

"Should be?" John questioned.

"No there is, there'll be an emergency access hatch somewhere near the doors," Rodney informed them all. "It's probably underwater though."

"Well it's a good thing I can hold my breath," John stated and everyone looked at him knowing this was probably not a good idea, but then they never were. Rodney ran through a very brief explanation to John of where the hatch should be and what to look for once he was in the control room.

"Alright, everybody into the front," John ordered and the entire group complied before sealing John into the back compartment. Lorne was now sitting at the controls and Teyla heard the tell tale sound of the Jumper's ramp lowering and water entering the back.

- - -

The water was freezing and John wondered for a moment why the hell he had volunteered for this. Then he remembered Elizabeth and if they had any chance of finding her then they needed to get into the city. Still, he could have sent Lorne, what was the point in being in charge if you didn't delegate and this was definitely one of those tasks he should have delegated.

His body was already adjusting to the ridiculously low temperature of the water but that in no way meant he wasn't cold. He found the access hatch exactly where Rodney had expected it to be, on the floor a few metres from the doors. He opened it and made quick work of pushing himself through the small shaft and into the base control room. His lungs were already demanding oxygen and one look at the dozens of leavers told him this may not have been such a great idea.

Rodney had said the switch should be among the most prominent, that would be the leavers on the central control station. He was only gonna get a few shots at this, less if he wanted to be able to get out of here alive. He pulled the switch and there were several noises but the water level in the Jumper bay didn't change.

The second switch and again nothing, his lungs were seriously protesting against their lack of air now and John knew this was his last chance. He pulled a third lever and much to his relief the water level around the Jumper began to drop. When he let go the water stopped draining and he knew he was in trouble. He pulled the leaver again and held it down for as long as he could and through the large window he could see that it was enough. He swam back to the access hatch, he had seconds left before he lost consciousness, he could already feel it.

"Colonel," he heard Lorne's voice shout as he emerged from the water. He felt someone grab the shoulders of his uniform and pull him up out of the hatch but he was far too light headed to register who. It took him far longer than he would have liked to regain enough of his senses to be coherent and found the rest of his team standing around him looking worried.

He decided it would be best to just stay on the floor for a minute and watched as Lorne closed the hatch he had just come through. "Alright, McKay, you stay her and re-programme Niam, the rest of you, make sure we weren't detected and there are no replicators hanging around," he ordered and watched as everyone left him to carry out their orders. He allowed himself to fall back against the floor and figured he'd just lay there until the others were ready.

It had probably been several minutes but it felt like a lot less before he heard a voice coming from the Jumper which sounded eerily familiar, was that Niam?

"Sheppard," Rodney shouted fearfully, yep, definitely Niam. John jumped up from the floor and ran to the back of the Jumper in time to see Niam collapse into little tiny pieces. He looked at the pile on the floor and then to Rodney who was stood their staring at him with an 'I think I just ruined our plan' look on his face.

John sighed in frustration and sat on the floor of the Jumper "Radio, the others," he instructed exasperatedly and beside him he heard Rodney's somewhat frantic voice telling the others to fall back to the Jumper. It was just another thing on a rapidly growing list of the things that had gone wrong on this mission... and they'd started out so well.

- - -

After a long argument about how Niam could have been reactivated, including several theories of the Replicators knowing they were there, the group had turned their attention onto what they were going to do now. With plan A out of the window, Ronon had suggested they just go and start shooting the replicators. John had quickly labelled that Plan B and called for a plan C.

Rodney once again did the finger clicking thing attracting everyone's attention. John had to wonder whether that was just his was of pulling a thought out of his head or if it was actually to bring everyone's attention to him. "How much C4 do we have?"

"Much, why?" John asked.

"Well it's desperate," Rodney told them and John continued to look at him expectantly. "We need to split into groups."

"I was gonna suggest that anyway, why, what are you think?" John questioned.

"If we're gonna destroy these guys using replicator disruptors then we have to hit them all at once, we'll probably only get a dozen or so shots off before they manage to figure out the frequency," Rodney began to explain and John looked at him in confusion.

"So, what, are you going to get them all to stand in one place at the same time?" John asked knowing it was a stupid question, but hey, it wasn't the genius here.

"Clever, yes," Rodney placated to which John glared at him as he turned to look at the rest of the group "Or, we could figure out a way to send one massive blast through the city, follow me."

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Steph7085**** – **I'm glad you like the story, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it and thanks for the review.

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked Lorne's line in the last chapter; it actually made me laugh when I was writing it. Glad you like my stories and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Kuroima – **Sorry for shocking you and yeah, it was a tossup between Lorne and Laura but in the end I went with Lorne. Lorne's line made me laugh as well, which is why I kept it in there. This chapter marks the end of The Return but it's nowhere near the end of the story. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

- - -

Chapter 8

"Okay, that should do it, it's all over but the crying," Rodney announced as he planted the last of his C4 on the shield emitter. He and John had taken care of all the generators on their 'to do' list. They had yet to run into a single replicator which was both concerning and potentially a problem. A loud sound came from somewhere in the city and the two men turned around to the holographic screen behind them.

"No wonder they weren't coming after us," Rodney said "They've been busy repairing the city."

There were more sounds coming from the city, the humming sounded like some kind of device or machine activating. "What is that?" John asked.

"They brought ZPM's to power the star drive," Rodney stated in realisation.

"So that sound is...?" John trailed off questioningly, looking at Rodney for him to confirm the rest of it.

"The city about to take off," Rodney finished for him as he looked from John to the holographic screen behind him. John walked away from him for a moment, probably about to start pacing. "It's time to start crying."

"They'll have to activate the shield to take off won't they?" John questioned as he walked back towards Rodney. "We got most of their emitters."

"Yeah, most ain't gonna cut it," Rodney replied, reigning in his annoyance athow much of their plan was going wrong, they weren't even on plan A, they were on C or something like that. "For this plan to work it is all or nothing."

"What do they wanna fly around for?" John questioned.

"Well, they probably wanna fly back to their home world," Rodney answered even though the question really didn't help their current situation.

"Or take on the Deadalus," John added as he continued pacing. "Well, how are we gonna stop em?"

For once Rodney really had no answer and think as he might, he couldn't come up with one. John made a gesture that had Rodney thinking for a moment that he was going to click his fingers the way Rodney did when he got an idea. Instead he pointed at him with 'I have an idea' written all over his face. "Drones, they fired drones at us. That means the chair is active and powered."

"You wanna fire drones at the city?" Rodney asked incredulously. "Who are near the chair?"

"Teyla and Beckett are," John informed him reaching for his radio and contacting their team mates. "Teyla, Beckett, come in."

There was a moment of static before Carson's voice replied "_What is it Colonel_?"

"Carson, I need you to go to the chair room and use the drones to take out the star drive," he told the doctor and once again there was only static for a moment.

"_You want me to do what?"_ Carson asked both surprised and worried.

"Just do what I say," John told him.

"_Alright, I'll give it a try, but no apologies if I happen to destroy the entire bloody city,"_ the disembodied Scottish accent told him.

"Star drive Carson, concentrate on the star drive," John instructed him "And Teyla, you might have to fight your way in."

"_I am ready, Colonel,"_ Teyla's voice replied, far more assured and calm than Carson's.

"Use your ARG's sparingly or they may build up an immunity, we may have to go to plan...B," John told them thoughtfully.

"_Okay,"_ Carson responded _"Which one's that again?"_

John looked at Rodney for a moment before replying "Never mind just go," he said before putting the radio in his tack vest and looking at back at Rodney. "Alright, go and meet up with Ronon and Lorne."

"Are you sure you can do this?" Rodney asked and John only nodded as he moved toward the door. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"

John stopped and looked back at Rodney who pretended not to be as concerned as he actually was. "Just make sure the city doesn't go anywhere. I'll make sure the replicators don't figure out what we're really up to."

Rodney could only stand and watch as John left the room and he stared after him for a moment before heading to where he was to meet Ronon and Major Lorne.

- - -

Teyla approached the chair room with Carson only a few steps behind her, she heard voices inside and something made her stop and listen. "Did they ever locate the human female in the city?" one of the replicators asked and Teyla knew they had to be talking about Elizabeth.

"What is it?" Carson whispered beside her and she held up her hand in a silent gesture for him to stay quiet. She had to get him into that room but if a few more seconds meant finding out what had happened to Elizabeth, then she was going to take them.

"No, we believe she escaped on that Jumper with a few of the Ancients," another voice replied. Teyla smiled slightly, so Elizabeth had escaped the Replicators. Once this was over they'd have to track down the Jumper but at least that meant she was alive.

She took Carson's ARG and walked into the room, firing both weapons and taking out two of the four replicators at once before turning her attention to the other two. "Clear," she called stepping to the side and Carson ran into the room and sat down on the chair. It activated as soon as he sat down and he leaned back with his eyes closed in concentration. After several long moments the city shook with what was probably the impact of the drones, she just hoped they'd hit the star drive.

Several replicators walked down the corridor and she was about to fire when she thought better of it. They'd done what they needed to; they'd taken care of their emitters and from the sound of it, had stopped the star drive too. There was no sense in risking them building up immunity to the ARG's now.

- - -

After playing question and answer with the replicators for several minutes which had gotten them nowhere but hopefully bought his team enough time to finish their job, the blonde haired replicator got down to business. He'd volunteered to be tone one to get caught and feed misinformation to the replicators. After leaving Rodney he'd gone in search of the Replicators and it had taken him a few minutes to get himself caught without looking like he was trying to get caught.

John winced even before the hand touched his head and then bit back a cry of pain as it did. It only lasted a second before he found himself standing in the Atlantis gate room; it was empty except for him and the replicator. The only light was coming from the active stargate and John looked around, it was kind of eerie to see this room empty, it hadn't even been like this when he'd first got here. There had already been several members of the expedition here by the time he'd stepped through the gate.

He seemed to be having a staring competition with the replicator for almost a full minute before he decided to speak. "Find what you're looking for yet?" he asked as he subtly protected certain secrets and made it look as though he was protecting others.

"You have quite a remarkable ability to resist," he stated with a smile.

"Yeah, well, I like my privacy," John told him and the replicator smirked in amusement before apparently finding what he was looking for.

"There we are," he said and abruptly the gate room dissolved and the pain returned. He could actually feel the hand slide out of his head and knew he was going to have the mother of all headaches later. He just hoped he'd done enough. "We need to get to the shield emitter stations, remove the C4 explosives you find there."

The replicators left the room without so much as a glance at him and he was locked in the cell alone. He sighed and sat down on the metal bench that had been left there. Had that always been there? There was nothing more he could do now; he just had to hope his team were able to get all of the emitters. This was the first chance he'd had to stop and think since they'd got here and inevitably his thoughts went to Elizabeth.

No one had seen her in their travels around the city but that didn't mean she wasn't here somewhere. She could be hiding somewhere in the city, maybe in one of the damaged sections where the sensors weren't yet functioning. This shouldn't have happened to her, it was him that was supposed to get in trouble not her. He'd left her here; he'd left her in Atlantis thinking that she'd be safe, that with the Ancients here and a city that had never failed them, she'd be protected even though he wasn't here to do it anymore.

He couldn't get much further that those guilt ridden thoughts before the doors opened once more and Teyla and Carson were tossed unceremoniously into the room. Teyla landed near him and John grabbed her arm to help her up from the floor. She thanked him and the sat on the bench beside him as Carson stood up and the cell was locked again.

"Nice job on the star drive doc," John told Carson who nodded "Did you get all of the..." he trailed off.

"We completed our task," Teyla replied "John..." she began and the sudden shift in her tone caught him off guard. "When we were entering the chair room I heard the Replicators talking about..." she was cut off as the door to the cell opened once again and this time it was Rodney, Lorne and a rather annoyed looking Ronon that were thrown into the cell. Ronon hit the floor with a thud and then glared at the Replicators as he stood back up.

"Did you really think your plan would succeed?" the blonde replicator asked and John stood up and nodded as he took a few steps toward him.

"Sure we did," he replied.

"The C4 has been removed from the shield emitters, you have failed," the replicator told him rather smugly and John gave him a sarcastic smile and his best 'defeated' look. He hoped that behind him, the rest of his team were giving their best performances as well. A voice over the radio informed them all that the Deadalus had arrived and the replicator gave him another smug smile. "As expected, activate the shield."

Seconds later a wave of distortion passed through the room and the smug replicator, along with his friends, were nothing more than piles of dust on the floor. "It worked," Rodney exclaimed pointing at what used to be a replicator. "I can't believe it worked."

"Good job Rodney," Lorne said patting Rodney on the back.

"Well, it was a group effort," the scientist replied, sharing the achievement in an uncharacteristic moment.

"Good old plan D, works every time," John stated as he tossed the bag of C4 explosives to Rodney and he and Ronon left the room to make sure it was all clear. The corridor was empty save for a few piles of replicator dust and John sent Ronon back for the others.

He made his way to the control room to be joined by the rest of the team only moments later. He quickly sent a message to the Deadalus which from the look of the sensor readings was about to drop into orbit.

Caldwell's voice filled the room after several tense seconds "Colonel, I'd like to believe this is you."

"Well, it is, authentication code Alpha, Delta, Charlie, Niner Six," he replied, probably wouldn't work but it was worth a try.

"That code is no longer valid, Colonel" Caldwell's voice informed him and John looked to the rest of his team for any suggestions. Elizabeth would have had him convinced but then she had a way with words.

"We're lowering the city's shields," John told him; somehow he figured that's what Elizabeth would have done, a show of good faith or whatever. "You can send a team to come and check us out, we'll explain everything."

- - -

Colonel Caldwell and his team had determined that they weren't under the influence of replicators and Carson had checked to make sure nobody had any little robots floating around their blood streams. Now they all stood in the control room watching as the stargate dialled earth.

"John," Teyla began as she stepped closer to him and John remembered that she had been trying to tell him something earlier. "The replicators I heard talking earlier were talking about Elizabeth... they said that they think she escaped the city in a Jumper along with several of the Ancients."

John's mind was frozen for a moment, as if someone had pushed a pause button on his thoughts and it took him a moment to put it in gear again.

"That's great," he heard Rodney exclaim from somewhere behind him "We'll just need to track down the Jumper and..."

"Easier said than done Rodney," Lorne stated "The Jumper could be anywhere by now."

Silence fell across the gate room until Rodney informed them that he was opening a channel to earth and the next thing they knew they were staring at General O'Neill's face. "Colonel Sheppard, mind explaining to me why you're in the wrong galaxy."

There were several smart ass answers that came to mind but John figured that even with O'Neill he should reign in his usual sense of humour. "Sir, Dr Weir was still in Atlantis and we knew if there was any chance of rescuing her then we had to do it before the Deadalus arrived."

"So you disobeyed a direct order, assaulted two of your colleagues, stole a Jumper and left the galaxy," O'Neill summed up and John nodded slowly. "Well my official position on this is, you should know better than to disobey a direct order, especially when it comes from my standing order. However, my unofficial position is, well done."

"Thank you sir," John said cautiously.

"Have you found Dr Weir?" he asked hopefully and John glanced at Teyla before replying.

"No sir, but we have reason to believe she escaped the city in a Jumper with some of the Ancients," he told him and watched as mixed emotions played across the General's face.

"I've already spoken to the IOA, you'll be allowed to remain in Atlantis and the rest of the expedition team will be returning to you as well," O'Neill informed them and John felt only a small amount of the relief he knew he should feel. "Find her Colonel."

"I intend to."

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**Saphiretwin369 – **We finally get to see Elizabeth's point of view in this chapter so I hope you enjoy it, thanks for the review.

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **In the episode, the C4 is just misinformation, they actually planted hidden charges on all of the generators that work like one giant ARG, so when the shield was raised a wave went through the city and took them all out in one. Elizabeth hasn't quite disappeared; you get to see her in this chapter. Thanks for the review.

**Lantia4eva – **Thanks for the review, it's not quite a party for Elizabeth and the ancients though lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter and that you had a great Christmas.

**Steph7085 – **I'm glad you liked the scene between John and Jack at the end. I see Jack and Liz's relationship as very brother and sister. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Kuroima – **Elizabeth's point of view is in this chapter so we get to see what's happened to her. I hope you enjoy the chapter and thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 9

Waking up to the unfamiliar sounds of a Jumper full of Ancients left Elizabeth feeling slightly disoriented. The last two days had been a rollercoaster with the Replicators attacking Atlantis and then being forced to abandon the city in a Jumper and fly through space in the hope they wouldn't get caught and would find a planet with a Stargate. Fortunately they had and they'd spent the last few hours going from planet to planet to find somewhere safe to stop.

Any planet with large populations was a definite no, not only would those people be in danger but they couldn't risk someone mentioning a bunch of Ancients whilst on a trade mission. The Ancients had told her they would only stop on a planet with few people if any on it, the search was becoming tedious but they weren't giving up. Of course Elizabeth had not been consulted on any of the decisions.

She'd barely managed to escape the city, the replicators had stormed Stargate operations during her transmission to earth and they'd been forced to abandon any plan of getting to the gate. Taros had been able to get them both out of the control room and to the Jumper bay where a few other Ancients were also gathering. Five of them had escaped, including her and the weapons fire that had followed them off the planet had been a cause for tension but they'd managed.

Thoughts of Atlantis flooded her mind, earth would have received her transmission and they'd know the city had fallen. The standing orders she had reluctantly agreed to would no doubt be carried out if they hadn't already and Atlantis would be gone. Her only connection to earth and the people she missed had been ripped away from her and now she was truly alone here.

"Dr Weir, how are you feeling?" Taros asked as he noticed she was awake and joined her in the back of the Jumper.

"Well my headache's gone so that must be a good sign right?" she questioned rhetorically as she sat up and Taros smiled slightly and nodded. "Where are we?"

"We believe we may have found a suitable planet for us to stay on," he told her "There is a small population and from what we can gather they are very isolated. They are mistrusting of outsiders and so do not use the gate very often. Malaine and Bren have managed to convince them to let us stay here, they said it did not take much when the villagers realised we were Ancients, or the ancestors, as they prefer to call us."

There was a small amount of humour in his voice which she had come to expect from him over the time she'd known him. "So is it safe to leave the Jumper?" she asked and Taros nodded and offered her his hand to help her up. She accepted it, stood up and left the Jumper with Taros beside her.

"It looked like every other planet in the Pegasus galaxy, trees everywhere and probably a good deal of distance between the gate and the settlement. "The village is a fifteen minute walk in that direction," Taros told her "And the gate is about five minutes that way," he finished pointing the opposite way.

They walked along the path slowly, not wanting to get too far from the Jumper but the need to walk more than a few feet at a time was too much to ignore. Jumpers were not meant for long distance travel.

"From what I am told these people are very simple, we will have to adjust to their standard of life but with the Replicators most likely searching for us, simple may be better," Taros explained to her and she nodded her head slowly. This was the second time in the last few months her life had been completely turned upside down.

They both stopped when they heard noises up ahead and relaxed when they realised it was only Malaine and Bren returning. "We would speak to everyone together," Malaine told them though it was directed more to Taros than Elizabeth.

The four of them returned to the Jumper where the other two members of their group were waiting for them. "The Krayle have agreed to let us stay with them. They are not a very advanced people but they do not use the Stargate unless they have no other choice. I do believe we will be safe here," Malaine informed them and she walked into the Jumper probably to grab the few supplies that had already been on the Jumper when they'd left Atlantis.

- - -

Knowing that they had left Atlantis in a Jumper helped to narrow the search area considerably, there were only a few planets anywhere near that had stargates on them. The Deadalus was flying around a search grid in case the Jumper had not made it to any of the planets. Search teams had been sent to each of the gate addresses but so far they had come up with nothing.

The Ancients and the replicators had been nice enough to leave them with three ZPMs, one of which had been sent back to earth to power the Stargate there much to Rodney's dismay. Consequently getting Atlantis's people back had been much easier and quicker than they'd been expecting.

They all arrived ready to do their part to re-establish themselves in the city and search for Elizabeth. John had divided people up to do both tasks, the scientists, medical staff and the majority of the civilians had been given the task of sorting the city out, leaving most of the military to help with the search.

John wasn't even sure which had become the higher priority, he knew which was his priority and earth wanted the city to be top. There seemed to be an equal amount of effort going into both though.

He stood in Elizabeth's office; it looked much the same as it always had, if a little more sparse. It had probably been blown up along with the rest of Stargate operations when they'd dropped the bomb in the gate room. It felt weird to be in here without Elizabeth, the furniture had already been brought in. It was one of the first rooms to be sorted out when they'd been giving the thumbs up to stay in the city. It was as though everyone had wanted this office to be ready when its occupant returned to Atlantis, which was looking less and less likely.

It was void of any of her belongings; hopefully there hadn't been anything of hers in here when the bomb had gone off. He knew Helia had taken over the office but the thought that any of her things had been destroyed in the explosion was nagging away at him.

He heard the sound of the Stargate activating and returned to the control room to be informed they were receiving Major Lorne's IDC. Irrationally he felt hope run through him, it was only the Majors scheduled check in but every time the gate activated his mind held onto the hope that it was Elizabeth coming back, whether he wanted it to or not.

"Report," John requested when Major Lorne's voice greeted him over the radio.

"_Still no sign sir, we've spoken to the locals but it seems they haven't seen Dr Weir or the Ancients," _Lorne informed him and John sighed as he felt the tiny spark of hope disappear.

"Alright Major, keep looking," he instructed him. Whatever Lorne said before the gate shut down was lost on John as his mind already started running over what could have happened to Elizabeth. He forced his train of thought back to reality as he left the control room. He was due to take his team to the last of the planets on the search list in less than an hour. Radek would keep an eye on things here until he or Major Lorne returned, preferably with Elizabeth in tow.

- - -

The village was actually more like a small town, it was huge and she was informed that over two thousand people lived there. The buildings were made of wood and stone and it seemed as if the people here were happy with their simple way of life, Elizabeth was not. Less than a day had passed since she'd walked into the village and she was already struggling to get used to the way things were here.

She was used to being able to jump in a hot shower whenever she wanted to but here she had to spend an hour heating up enough water to be able to take a bath which was only mildly warm by the time she could get into it anyway. They had this weird smelling stuff which was there version of shampoo, thankfully the smell didn't linger long after she'd washed the stuff out of her hair.

There had been an empty house, she didn't want to know why it was empty, toward the centre of the village and she and the Ancients were staying there. Thankfully there were enough rooms for them all, though the shared bathroom was already becoming an issue. She'd placed her clothes in the laundry and was now donning some of the local attire. Thankfully there were trousers involved, she would have gone crazy in one of the long, figure hugging dresses she'd seen many of the women here wearing.

She left her room and headed toward the living area; she could hear the Ancients talking and stopped outside to listen.

"We don't have a choice Malar; if the replicators are looking for us then we need to be as isolated as possible. This was the only planet that suits those needs, the locals here won't give us away because they don't have anyone to give us away too. They remain on their planet and turn most outsiders away," she heard Malaine explaining.

"These people are far too primitive," he began to protest.

"The humans on other planets were not much different from this," Bren told him and she heard Malar say something about primitive humans spreading all over the galaxy.

"We were gone for a long time Malar," Taros began "The galaxy is not the way it used to be."

Elizabeth chose this moment to walk into the room and they all fell silent, they looked at her as though she was an intruder who shouldn't be there until Taros stood up. "Dr Weir, would you like to help me discover what kind of food these people eat? I was informed they that they had provided us with some."

She smiled to him and nodded her head, following him through to the 'kitchen' where Taros turned to her. "They are struggling to adapt, give it time," he told her.

The wooden door to the side of the kitchen led into a store room. Dried food was lined up across the shelves on one side and there was some type of meet on the other. Taros grabbed random things from the shelf and seemed to inspect them all curiously. Elizabeth did the same as well as picking up some type of vegetable from another shelf and followed Taros back to the kitchen. "I think this is where we cook it," she told him as he looked around the room slightly lost.

"Ah of course, I think it's some type of stove. Why don't you light the fire and I will try to figure out how to prepare this," he suggested, holding up what looked like a cucumber but obviously wasn't.

Elizabeth smiled as he looked at it in confusion and then placed it on a nearby surface; he picked up a knife, inspecting it before starting to chop whatever it was. If she had to be stuck here with a bunch of Ancients then she was glad that Taros was among them. He was probably one of the only older Ancients that had been in the city and he was probably the only one to have ever given her the time of day when they didn't have to. At least she had one ally here.

- - -

"Yes, a group of people did come here, it was a couple of days ago now but I remember them. They didn't seem to like us very much; they barely spoke a few sentences before they left," the young man told them sounding very offended by the whole thing.

"What did they say to you?" John asked and the man looked thoughtful for a moment.

"They asked about the size of our settlement, how many people were here and whether or not we used the ring of the Ancestors often. They thanked me for my time and then left again," he replied.

"Do you know how they got here?" Ronon questioned and the man shook his head.

"I didn't ask, I assume they came through the ring of the ancestors."

"How many were there?" John continued to ask and the man seemed to be getting irritated with all the questions but he politely answered them anyway.

"Five of them," John nodded his head and reached into his pocket, pulling out the picture of Elizabeth and showing it to the man.

"Was she with them?" he questioned hopefully and the man only looked at the picture for a second before answering.

"Yes, yes, she was," he answered "She was very quiet, I don't think she spoke a single word while she was here but yes, she was definitely one of them."

"Do you know where they went?" Teyla asked, hope in her voice but once again the man shook his head.

"No I'm sorry, they never said anything," he replied and John thanked him, unsure if this was a good thing. On the one hand, he knew for sure now that Elizabeth had escaped Atlantis and was alive somewhere but he was no closer to finding where.

As they left the settlement Teyla ran to catch up with John, speaking in that knowing voice that only she could manage "We know that she is out here somewhere, we will find her John."

"I hope so Teyla," he replied.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors Note: For those of you who haven't seen my other updates, I'm sorry about the long wait but I lost my internet. Back online though and thanks for sticking with the story!**

**Kurioma – **I feel bad for stranding Elizabeth all alone, as for her moving on, maybe, maybe not, you'll have to wait and see lol. Thanks for the review!

**Steph7085 – **I'm afraid this is another one of my fics where you're gonna have to be patient on the Sparky front. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Lantia4eva – **That sounds right to me... I think... (Looks confused) lol, yeah that's right. I'm glad you like the crazy story line and thanks for the review.

**Saphiretwin369 – **I figured the Ancients would view themselves as very much above humanity and that it would show in their treatment of Elizabeth but I didn't want her too isolated so i through Taros in there. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 10

The Stargate shimmered in front of him as John walked down the stairs to greet the incoming traveller. He emerged from the wormhole without his usual grin, this wasn't a social call or even one that he wanted to make.

"General O'Neill," John greeted as the gate shut down.

"Report," the general requested immediately and John was more than ready to oblige.

"The city is up and running again, the replicators did a great job of cleaning up the mess we made of Stargate operations. There are still a few repairs to do but nothing that affects running the city," John informed him getting that part out of the way so they could get to the part the General was really interested in. "We've searched most of the nearby planets that have a Stargate and Colonel Caldwell used the Deadalus to search some that haven't."

"Still nothing?" he asked and John shook his head.

"All we know is that Elizabeth escaped Atlantis in a Jumper with a small group of Ancients. We know that the Jumper made it away from the planet and to one with a gate, the locals remember seeing her so we know that she's alive and out there somewhere," John explained and General O'Neill nodded his head several times.

"And if they used the stargate they could be anywhere in the galaxy by now," the general finished for him.

"Yes sir," John replied as the gate started dialling.

"We've checked all the obvious places Elizabeth might go, any allies, the Athosians, so far nothing," John stated as they walked up the stairs to the control room.

"Atlantis, this is Major Lorne," the Major's voice informed them over the radio and John tapped his ear piece to respond.

"Go ahead Major," he instructed knowing that his teams check in was not for several hours.

"Sir, the locals here said they saw Dr Weir about a week ago along with the Ancients. Apparently they didn't stay long, just asked a few questions about the settlement and the stargate and then left again. They don't know where they went but they did go through the gate in a Jumper," Major Lorne told him and John sighed. This was the third planet they'd found that Elizabeth had visited, all three of them had been a week ago and all of three of them led to another dead end.

He saw Teyla walk into the room out of the corner of his eye as Major Lorne told him they were going to try and find out if anyone saw the gate address. Once he'd finished with the Major and the gate had shut down he tuned to Teyla. "News on Elizabeth?" she questioned.

"Just another planet they spotted her on," he told and watched as she sighed sadly. The obvious lack of Elizabeth's presence was weighing heavily on everyone.

"Teyla, why don't you show General O'Neill to his quarters?" John suggested knowing his friend needed something to do and beating up Ronon in the gym could only entertain her for so long.

"Of course," Teyla replied and gestured for O'Neill to follow her.

"We'll find her," the general said to John before he followed Teyla out of the room.

- - -

It was strange that a week ago she had been ready to go nuts being stuck on this planet. She hadn't realised how spoilt she was until she struggled to adapt to the more... simple way of life here. Elizabeth sat in the living area of their house, staring at the wall and thinking about the rollercoaster her life had become in the last couple of months. Now she was actually starting to get used to being here, she was actually getting used to the weird smelling shampoo and the shared bathroom and the house full of stuck up Ancients.

The downside to this was the more she got used to it the more she missed Atlantis, which was also really weird since logically she should miss Atlantis less as she adjusted to being here. It was the people she missed more than anything though, Rodney, Teyla, Carson and even Ronon among others. She missed John the most though, she'd come to depend on his annoying visits to her obvious and their talks on their balcony to keep her sane. Even during the really bad days that had moulded together into bad weeks, he'd always had some line or another to make her smile, she missed that.

"Dr Weir," she heard Malar's voice from the doorway and turned to see him carrying several boxes through the doorway. She immediately jumped up to help him, taking the box from the top and taking a step back to allow Malar to continue to wherever he was intending to go. He didn't even look at her as he walked through to the store room and placed the boxes on the nearest shelf. Elizabeth placed hers next to them and with a nudge from Malar moved out of the way.

He seemed to completely ignore her which even for him was unusual "Is there a problem?" she asked him.

"Why would there be a problem?" he asked, the irritation in his voice telling there was indeed something wrong.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" she questioned raising her eyebrow and he stopped shifting the supplies of food that had been in the boxes and turned to look at her.

"You're not pulling your weight," he told her "We are all stuck here; we must all put in some effort if we are to make the conditions here bearable."

"I'm sorry if you feel I'm not pulling my weight but I have done more today than you have," she told him angrily, her diplomatic skills needed some brushing up on but after the last few months she was entitled to get a little annoyed. Malar scoffed and Elizabeth once again raised her eyebrow. "I was out in the fields gathering crops at first light this morning, where were you?" she asked him and Malar could only straighten his back. "Asleep," she answered for him. "And I have yet to see you cook a meal. Now if you've finished keeping score," she finished and left the room having made her point.

She should probably feel slightly guilty for talking to him like that but over the week that they had been stuck here the arrogant Ancient had taken every opportunity he could find to make some comment or criticism about her. He was really starting to get under her skin and she wasn't sure how much more of his 'I hate humanity' attitude. Malaine, Bren and Rinar obviously thought they were superior to humans as well but at least in their cases they kept it mostly to themselves. Taros just seemed to be enjoying learning more about how much humans had changed in their long absence.

She left the house hoping to get some air before she had to deal with the rest of the Ancients. She had every intention of just circling around a few of the houses before going back but several of the local women spotted her and approached. It seemed that even after a week the novelty of having Ancients among them had not worn off and Elizabeth was getting rather tired of reminding people she wasn't one of them, Taros had told her to just give it up.

"Dr Weir, how are you and other Ancients settling in?" One of them asked, Maria, if Elizabeth's memory served her, one of the Ancients biggest fans.

"Oh you know, we're settling," she told them though the truth was far more complicated and probably closer to the opposite.

"That is good to hear, I'm sure you are all used to a much better life than we can provide you with here but we find that this way is safer," Maria told her which got Elizabeth's interest.

"Safer?" she questioned and Maria nodded enthusiastically.

"From the Wraith, we believe if we live life as simply as possible and refrain from using the stargate that they are more likely to ignore us. Our people have not been culled in many years," she informed her to which Elizabeth could only nod her head slowly. She doubted it was that simple and it was probably only luck that they hadn't been culled yet.

She found the first escape from the conversation that she could and headed back to the house, her house. She heard the Ancients arguing inside even before she opened the door and when she stepped inside she realised the argument was actually about her. Since none of them seemed to have heard the door open she decided to stand their and listen, making sure the she shut the door silently.

"She is a typical example of humanity; they have not changed as much as they appear to. They are still a selfish, impulsive, ignorant race," Malar told the others in disgust and Elizabeth tried not to roll her eyes at him. "Whilst we were working this afternoon she was sat in here staring at the wall."

"Malar, she may not be perfect but she does more work around here than you do," she was surprised to hear Malaine defend her. "She may not be one of us and I agree that she does not belong in this group but as you have said we are all trapped here together. Dr Weir was working in the fields this morning even before I got there and before you were even awoke."

"Your attitude isn't going to help us here," Rinar added and she heard Malar scoff again.

"My attitude?" he questioned "You did not hear the way she spoke to me earlier, such ignorance."

"As much as I hate to say it, it sounds like you may have deserved it," Bren told him.

"This arguing is pointless," she heard Taros say "Whether any of you like it or not Dr Weir is part of this group and will remain that way. We've all been through a difficult time and fighting amongst ourselves will get us nowhere."

Elizabeth decided to make her presence known and walked into the room with a small smile on her face as though she'd heard none of the conversation. "Afternoon," she greeted the all and then turned to Taros. "Shall we make dinner?" she asked and Taros nodded and followed her out of the room.

They walked into the store room where Malar had done a great job of mixing up their carefully organised food stores. "You heard that whole conversation didn't you?" Taros questioned in amusement and Elizabeth smiled.

"I got the gist of it," she told him and Taros shook his head as he searched through the vegetables.

- - -

Jack sat in his room, staring out of his window at the miles and miles of water that surrounded the city. He liked Atlantis; he liked the city and the atmosphere in it, well the atmosphere the city usually had anyway. The one thing he noticed more than anything else was the family feel the city had, the people here were all very close. They were more like a community than anything else; Elizabeth had done an amazing job with the expedition team and everyone who had joined it in the last couple of years.

They were a community and like any community they felt it when part of it wasn't there. He knew that every loss hit the people in Atlantis hard and they all mourned those losses together. The fact that it was the city's leader that was lost, a figure that he knew for a fact everyone here respected and trusted, had made the loss all that more hard. The lack of her presence wasn't something that could go unnoticed.

Officially he'd come here to check on the progress the Atlantis team were making with settling back into the city. His visit had more of a personal agenda though; he wanted to be here for Elizabeth. The woman had almost become like a little sister to him and he'd be damned if he just sat back on earth and read the occasional report on the search to find her.

Deciding he needed something to do before he went stir crazy he left his room and quickly found his way to the nearest transporter. He pressed the transporter near the control room and when the doors opened again he was in a completely different corridor, the expedition didn't know how good they had it, he had to walk all over the SGC.

"Sheppard," he greeted as he saw the lieutenant colonel entering the control room from the gate room. A glance down told him that another team had returned through the gate and still no Elizabeth.

"General O'Neill," John returned and Jack noticed not for the first time how tired the young man looked and he wondered how much sleep he'd actually had since their return to Atlantis a week ago. He knew the man wanted to be out there looking for Elizabeth himself, he'd only been off world a few times to help with the search. He was doing his duty to the city though; with Elizabeth missing he was in charge of the Atlantis.

"When was the last time you slept?" Jack questioned and John looked like he was seriously thinking about the answer.

"I got a few hours yesterday," he replied and Jack nodded before gesturing to the door.

"Go," he ordered and the second John opened his mouth to respond Jack cut him off. "That was an order, the city can survive without you for a few hours and if anything comes up I will send you a very loud call over the radio."

It looked as though John was considering more protest but instead nodded his head "Major Lorne is due back in an hour," he informed Jack before heading out of the room and Jack watched him go before finding himself a chair he could sit in and look important. He had some thinking to do and some decisions that needed to be made.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**Lakewater**** – **Thanks, I'm glad you liked the last chapter.

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **Explanation about Athos is coming and that's weird, two of my stories not making it to your email, oh well. Thanks for the review.

**Steph7085 – **I'll slap the Ancient for you lol, thanks for the review.

**Jammeke**** – **I don't like the Ancients either, I don't like them on the show or in my fic lol. They always seem kinda stuck up. I hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for the review.

**Kuroima**** – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad my internet is fixed now too lol. I like Jack too but unfortunately he won't be staying for too long, he has a job to do on earth after all.

**Saphiretwin369 – **I'm glad you liked Jack's bit at the end, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy his chapter.

- - -

Chapter 11

John walked down the stairs to the gate room; all he knew was that someone was coming through from earth by General O'Neill's request. The shimmering blue event horizon was already illuminating the gate room and Jack was stood in front of it waiting for whoever was coming. He looked back at the gate in time to see Lieutenant Colonel Carter emerge. She walked toward the General with a small smile on her face which he happily returned.

"Sir," she greeted.

"Carter, good to see you," Jack returned and John watched the exchange with interest. He'd all the rumours about the two of them and while he was all for them being together he was fairly sure, from what he'd heard that hadn't come from the gossip mills, that they had not acted on whatever was between them. "Sheppard," Jack called and John realised that was his cue to join them. He closed the few steps between them and greeted Carter warily, he had a feeling he knew why she was here.

"Colonel Carter," he acknowledged.

"I've brought Carter here so that she can help run the city whilst Elizabeth is missing," Jack stated carefully, well aware that he was probably treading on thin ice. There was a lot of loyalty to Elizabeth here and this could very easily be taken the wrong way.

John wanted to protest but held his tongue, both these people deserved his respect and he knew his protest was born more out of a need to protect Elizabeth's position than anything else.

"She's here to help, you and your team can join the search and Carter can worry about looking after the city so you don't have to," Jack told him as though he sensed the silent protest John was giving him and John could only nod.

- - -

Elizabeth walked out of the house wearing the hunting clothes she had been given and joined Taros and Malar who were both wearing similar clothing. "Calm down Malar, this is the way of life these people have chosen and we must learn to live with it. Hunting is a part of their life and we must each take part in it."

"I do not see why it had to be me," Malar mumbled under his breath as Elizabeth joined them and Taros offered her a small smile. He wasn't looking forward to this any more than she and Malar were but he was right, these people had been kind enough to share their home and the least they could do was take part in the day to day life here. They were probably going to be here a very long time.

"Are you ready?" the villager who would be leading the hunting party asked them.

"Yes, Kalen, we are ready," Taros informed the well built villager who then nodded and walked toward the rest of the group.

"Alright everyone, it's time to go, you all know the rules, don't move far from group and stay alert," Kalen shouted and there were several grunts from the men and murmurs from the few women in the group. They made their way toward the edge of the village with Kalen leading the way. Elizabeth felt a little nervous having never done anything like this, on earth she had always been against hunting and now here she was. They reached the edge of the village and many of the villagers pulled out their hunting knives and their bows and arrows.

Elizabeth tightened her grip on her own bow which she was holding at her side and adjusted the strap that was holding all the arrows behind her back. She wondered how bad her aim would turn out to be, John may have taught her how to fire a weapon but a bow was a completely different matter.

The twenty or so people that were in the party split into smaller numbers and headed in different directions. Malar mumbled something under his breath as he joined one of the groups and Elizabeth opted to stay with Taros, the elderly man gave her another small smile and followed Kalen and another man.

They were walking for several minutes in complete silence before Kalen held his hand up in a gesture for them to stop. He pointed ahead of him to where an animal was walking through the trees. He turned to them and whispered quietly. "That is a Vlaos, it's a great source of meat but we never attempt to kill them. They are the most vicious animals in the forest and could easily kill several people before we take it down."

Elizabeth looked forward as the animal continued on unaware of their presence and both Kalen and the other man relaxed. It only took another couple of minutes for them to come across a small animal that reminded Elizabeth of a hare and after Kalen gestured for them to stop he raised his bow and pulled an arrow from the pack on his back. He took aim and Elizabeth almost couldn't watch as the arrow shot through the air and hit the animal. It gave a small cry before it died and the other villager walked over and picked up the dead carcass, throwing it in the brown sack he was carrying.

Over the following twenty minutes Elizabeth watched Kalen and occasionally the other villager kill several animals, some big and some small. They spotted another of the hare like creatures and instead of taking aim with his arrow as he usually did Kalen turned to Elizabeth and Taros. "I think that perhaps one of you should do this," he told them and Elizabeth froze for a moment.

"I will do it," Taros said having sensed her hesitance.

Kalen gestured for the white haired Ancient to step up beside him and Taros did so raising his bow and taking one of his arrows. Kalen helped him to hold it correctly and then to aim before allowing Taros to take the shot alone. The arrow hit the small creature and Taros did not look happy about his achievement even as Kalen patted him on the back and the fourth member of their group gathered the kill.

"I hope this is not an experience I will ever get used to," Taros said quietly and Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder. Their attention was caught when the villager who was collecting the animal froze on the way back to them. They all turned around slowly and saw to their horror, a Vlaos standing behind them, probably the same one they had seen earlier.

Once they were over their shock, Kalen and the villager acted quickly, they grabbed their bows and arrows and fired at the same time as the animal charged toward them. It was easily two thirds the height of a person and grey fur covered its entire body. It charged at them, its four legs giving it speed and Elizabeth could see the sharp teeth.

One of the arrows missed and the second lodged itself in the animal which seemed not to notice. Elizabeth grabbed Taros' arm and pulled him to the side as the animal pounced at them. Two more arrows were fired both of them missing as the Vlaos made a run for the villager. He wasn't able to get out of the way in time and the creature pinned him to the floor. Kalen fired another arrow and Taros stood up and joined him. The creature seemed to be momentarily phased by the hits giving the villager enough time to grab the hunting knife sheathed at his side. His dug it into the animal just below its neck and the Vlaos growled in pain before biting the man's shoulder.

He cried out in agony and Elizabeth, now also on her feat, pulled up her own bow and grabbed an arrow from the pack on her back. She had very little idea what she was doing, she could only mimic what she'd seen in movies and try to aim her shot right. Her first shot missed along with Taros' next shot but Kalen managed to hit the creature which again only seemed to phase it. She fired again and this time managed to hit the animal in the neck, it growled from the impact. Kalen fired another arrow which hit the beast beside her arrow and it returned the favour by going for the villager's neck. Elizabeth actually heard the crack as the man's cries of pain came to an abrupt end.

The beast turned to her, picking her out as its next target and she was able to fire another shot before it charged at her. Taros and Kalen both fired as well and she barely managed to throw herself out of the way. She hit the forest floor with a thud and ignored the sharp stone that had dug into the palm of her hand. She turned onto her back and sat up quickly, scurrying backwards as the beast advanced on her again. Another arrow hit it in the side and a second joined the ones already buried in its neck. The animal staggered and Elizabeth continued to move away from it until her back hit a tree and she was trapped.

Another arrow sailed through the air and hit the Vlaos in the neck again. It staggered toward her again for a few moments and then collapsed on the floor with a loud crash and after a few more seconds, it stopped moving and the sound of its breathing disappeared completely.

Elizabeth stayed on the floor, her own breathing was heavy and she could feel her heart beating a thousand miles an hour in her chest. She hadn't felt like this since her first year in Atlantis when the Genii had stormed the city and Kolya had taken her hostage. The whole situation had been frightening but it hadn't been until Kolya had grabbed her and John had been stood in front of her taking aim that she had felt truly afraid.

Taros hurried over to her and offered her his hand; she accepted it with a grateful nod and allowed him to hep her stand up. They looked over to where Kalen was kneeling next to the final member of their group, she already knew the man was dead and the look of utter sadness on Kalen's face only confirmed it. He took his time before standing up and looking at them. "Are either of you hurt?" he asked and Elizabeth shook her head in answer before looking back at the dead animal on the floor. "We will take him back to the village, it will provide more meat than all the animals in the sacks," Kalen told them gesturing to the two sacks full of kills the group had made.

Twenty minutes later the hunting party had gathered back together, several people were carrying the large animal and a few more were carrying the body of the dead villager. They walked back into the village and were greeted by the stares and whispers of the locals when they saw both the large kill and the member of their community that had been lost to get it.

- - -

"She is here to take over Elizabeth's position?" Teyla asked, it seemed she didn't like the idea anymore than John did but in the hour it had been since Carter's arrival he'd had chance to think about it. Her being here would free him up to help more with searching for Elizabeth and if the diplomat were here she'd tell him to accept it and the help Carter could give them.

"She's only here to help us search for Elizabeth, we can be more involved with the search now that someone else is here to run Atlantis," John explained and Teyla nodded her head in acceptance.

"She's only been missing for just over a week," Rodney protested.

"And hopefully with Carter here She won't be missing for much longer," John countered and Rodney sat down in his chair at the briefing table. They'd all gathered here a few minutes before the upcoming briefing so that John could explain the situation to them all.

"So, do we report to her now?" Lorne asked.

"I don't know but probably," John replied with a shrug and Evan sighed and looked down.

"If she's here to help us and Elizabeth then we should give her a chance," Carson stated from where he was sitting at the briefing table. John heard Jack's voice and turned to see him and Sam walking through the control room. Ronon was standing near the door and followed his gaze; he looked at the two new comers for a moment before looking at John with a serious expression.

"I don't like it," he stated and John nodded his head lazily, he hadn't expected this to go down well. He knew the population of Atlantis well, after all they were his and Elizabeth's people and he knew it was going to take people some time to warm to this idea.

Jack and Sam walked into the room and apparently picked up on the tension immediately. "All here a little early aren't we?" Jack questioned rhetorically.

"Just eager to get started sir," John half lied and Jack gave him a disbelieving look as he and Carter took their chairs along with everyone else in the room.

"Alright, where are we in the search?" Sam questioned getting immediately down to business.

"We've searched nearly all of the planets within a twenty four hour Jumper distance of Atlantis and we're planning on expanding the search area. Colonel Caldwell is still searching some of the planets in the search grid using the Deadalus," John explained. "We know that Elizabeth has been on at least five of the planets along with a group of about five Ancients. They seem to be looking for a planet to settle on and they're being very picky about it."

"Do we have any idea what type of planet they're looking for?" Sam asked.

"They appear to be asking the same questions on each of the planets they have visited. They want to know about the size of the population, how often they are culled by the Wraith but most of all they seem to want to know about the use of the stargate. How often the people use it, their relationships with other planets," Teyla answered and Sam nodded her head.

"The answers they're getting don't seem to be right ones," Lorne added "As soon as they've asked their questions they leave again."

"I think it's safe to assume that Elizabeth will believe that either General O'Neill's standing orders were carried out or that the Replicators still control the city," Sam stated thoughtfully "She probably told the Ancients she is with now and they are most likely operating under that assumption."

"So they believe that the city has been destroyed or is under replicator control. If it's destroyed then they have nothing left to come back to, if it's still under replicator control then..." John trailed off and thought for a moment. "Then they'd have to be concerned that the replicators are looking for them," he finished in realisation.

"And they have no idea that you destroyed the replicators," Sam added, jumping onto his train of thought.

"So they're probably looking for somewhere safe," Rodney stated.

"They could be asking about population size because they don't wanna endanger more people than they have to," Carson volunteered.

"And the questions about their use of the stargate," Teyla began "All of the people they have spoken to you have used the gate for trade, they have good relationships with numerous trade partners. If they wish to remain hidden then perhaps they are searching for a more isolated community."

"It explains why they haven't gone to any of our allies," Jack added, speaking for the first time since they'd sat down. John nodded his head feeling like they'd made more progress than in the majority of the week so far. They had some idea what was going through Elizabeth's and the Ancient's heads and hopefully that would help speed up their search.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**Sachita**** – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and that everyone's in character. I hope you enjoy this update.

**Sparklyshimmer2010 – **I debated for ages whether or not I was gonna have Elizabeth go hunting but I figure she'd do what she had to in this situation. I also wasn't sure about brining Sam in but it just made sense. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

**Saphiretwin369 – **I wasn't sure about bringing Sam in but I'm glad you like it, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Steph7085 – **I'm glad you liked the hunting scene, thanks for the review.

**Jammeke**** – **John is very hard to get out of you head lol, as for Sam; I think you'll like her in this story. I don't agree with tptb decisions about season 4 but that's what fanfiction is for. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review. I'm glad you like my AU's too.

**Kuroima**** – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the hunting scene and I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

- - -

Chapter 12

The gate was already active and waiting for his team to step through. John watched as Rodney and Teyla disappeared into the event horizon followed a moment later by Ronon. He turned around to see Sam standing in the control room, where Elizabeth would usually be, watching his team leave. Jack had been right, Sam's presence had allowed him more time to do what he needed to. She was taking care of the day to day running of the city and John was able to take his team off world to help search for Elizabeth.

Still, he couldn't help but feel that she was taking Elizabeth's place, he knew she wasn't, that her presence here was temporary and only to help bring the city's rightful leader back. She met John's eyes and nodded her head almost as though she had sensed his thoughts. He turned around and followed the rest of his team through the gate.

It had been almost a month since they had retaken Atlantis from the Replicators, a month since Elizabeth had disappeared and they were no closer to finding her than they had been when Sam had first arrived in Atlantis. Knowing what the Ancients Elizabeth was travelling with wanted they had been able to rule several planets out of the search. Almost all the others within the search grid had been searched and if John was honest he knew that if they did find Elizabeth now, it would be on pure luck.

This time next week they would have finished searching all the planets on the list, they would have to come up with a new approach and they would have to come up with it quickly. John and Sam were already getting pressured by the IOA to find Elizabeth and John knew it was only a matter of time before the pressure moved from finding their missing leader to resuming their normal operations.

John stepped through the gate onto yet another unexplored planet. The area surrounding the stargate was the same as on most other planets they'd visited over the last three years, surrounded by trees and probably a decent walk from the nearest village or town. To his credit, Rodney hadn't complained once about the phenomenal amount of walking they'd had to do in the last month. It was for Elizabeth and John knew that, like him, Rodney would do whatever he had to do to get Elizabeth back, everyone in Atlantis would.

John walked along the path through the forest slightly ahead of his team mates who were all remaining several paces behind him. John was grateful to them, he needed time to think; he seemed to need a lot of it lately. Maybe it was just the situation, or maybe it was the fact that if something bothered him, it was usually Elizabeth he would go to because they were probably both bothered by the same thing. They were the leaders of Atlantis, a team in their own right and it was hard doing this job without her not least because he didn't want to. Losing Elizabeth felt more like losing a limb, some part of himself that he couldn't function properly without; he didn't want to read too much into that.

It didn't take them long to find the Athosian style settlement and the locals looked at them curiously as they passed through the small village. "Good day to you," a young woman said as she approached them. "I am Lidia, and you are?" she asked cheerfully, too cheerfully for John's current mood but since his current mood had lasted for a month now he didn't comment. He introduced himself and his team in as few words as possible and tried not to sigh at the blondes continued enthusiasm.

"We are about to have our midday meal, please join us, my father is our leader and he would be most excited to meet you," she told them all but didn't actually wait for a response before walking away.

"Great," John muttered "More excitement."

They were lead through to a tent where a small group of people were gathering around a low table. It reminded John of their first meeting with the Athosians and he would have continued that line of thought had it not been interrupted by the enthusiastic welcome of the groups leader. "Welcome, I am Torlin. My daughter tells me you are joining us for dinner, please sit down," he said gesturing to the table by their feet. "Visitors are always most welcome here."

That was pretty much the end of the mission as far as John was concerned. These people were the exact opposite of what they were fairly sure the Ancients were looking for; there was no way they were here. Still, there was no point in being rude so he gestured for his team to sit down before doing so himself. An odd looking array of food was placed in front of him and he hesitated before eating it.

"We're actually looking for someone, have you had any other visitors to this planet recently?" John asked as he decided he definitely didn't like whatever that yellow stuff was.

"We've had many visitors; we trade with a number of other planets," Torlin informed them.

John put down the green leafy thing he decided was safe to eat and reached into the pocket of his vest. He pulled out the picture of Elizabeth that seemed to have become a permanent fixture of the Atlantis off world uniform and showed it to Torlin. "Have you seen her?" he asked.

Torlin looked at the photo for several moments, a thoughtful expression on his aging features. "No, I do not believe I have."

John sighed and put the photo back into his pocket, he had expected that answer but it didn't make it sting any less. Another dead end and another planet gone from their search list which had very quickly dwindled down to a handful. Every planet that they eliminated took with it a strand of hope and he wasn't sure how much the people of Atlantis had left to give, how much more _he _could give. People could only hold onto hope for so long, they only had so much hope in them and it couldn't last forever, not when it was being ripped away one bit at a time.

He made it through the rest of the meal with barely another word; thankfully Teyla did enough talking for him. Ronon had never been much for small talk and Rodney was relatively quiet, he was really beginning to feel the effects of their lack of success in finding Elizabeth. John knew he should say something to reassure the scientist but he couldn't find it in himself.

When they left the village the ever growing dark cloud that had been hanging over them for the last month seemed bigger still.

- - -

Jack walked into Elizabeth's office and despite the fact that it had been a month; it still felt weird to see Sam sitting in it. He'd known that Sam was probably one of the only people he could bring into take over running the city without it causing a huge riot on Atlantis. She was probably one of the few people that would respect that this was Elizabeth's command, this was Elizabeth's office and that was Elizabeth's chair, she was just keeping it warm for her.

To her credit, Sam had done everything right so far, she hadn't put a single personal item in the office. Nothing that would in anyway link her to the room, at some point during the last few weeks a few of Elizabeth's things had found their way from her room to this office and Sam had made no attempt to have them removed, hadn't even mentioned their presence. A pocket watch was sitting on the desk; one Jack knew had been Elizabeth's fathers. Some kind of vase Jack had seen in here a few times was sitting next to it along with a framed picture of a dog.

He had no idea who'd put these things here but they'd emerged slowly over the weeks Atlantis's leader had been missing. It was as though people wanted to make sure that no one forgot who was in charge here, who the office belonged to, who the city belonged to.

"How's it going?" he asked her and she looked up from the report she'd been reading.

"Hey... er... not good," was her response. "We're down to the last few planets on the list and we've still got nothing," she explained. "I'm not exactly optimistic that we're gonna find her on any of the remaining planets and... I don't know what to do after that."

She leaned back in the chair with a heavy sigh, she sounded tired, as though she'd been trying to pry an answer out of her head since she got here. He knew she was going to do everything she could to find Elizabeth but he felt the need to say it anyway, for his own peace of mind if nothing else.

"Carter, I have to leave tomorrow," he started and she sighed again.

"Yeah, I know," she replied.

"I really wish I could stay to help. This city needs Elizabeth and that's what you're here for, you're here to make sure the city gets her back. You're here to find her... and you _will_ find her, failing isn't an option on this one," he told her and hoped she'd understand what he was saying and why he was saying it.

He loved Elizabeth like a little sister and whilst he in no way doubted Sam, he needed to know that he'd done what he could, said what he needed to say to help make sure she was brought home. Fortunately Sam understood, it was impossible to work as closely as his team had for as long as they had without learning to read and understand each other with ease. It was one of the things that had made them so good, one of the things that had kept them alive despite the ridiculous number of life and death situations and close calls they'd managed to thrust upon themselves.

"I know why I'm here," she told him, there was no bitterness or annoyance to her tone, just understanding and he knew he'd done the right thing in bringing her here.

- - -

One thing she had come to love about this planet was the stars, every night she would leave the house and wonder through the night time quiet of the village. She would rarely see anyone else out and about during the night and it gave her the chance to think and be alone that she desperately needed at the moment. The stars here were beautiful and she would look out at them wondering if any of them were Atlantis.

She still didn't feel at home here, a month of living and working with these people had left her feeling as much of an outsider as she ever had. The Ancients were their own little group, only socialising with the villagers when they had to and merely tolerating her. Taros was doing his best to involve her, to make her feel as at home here as any of them could but the truth was, Elizabeth didn't think she'd ever feel truly at home on this planet.

She missed Atlantis, she missed her friends, she missed everything that her life had been before her team had rescued the Ancients. It was a horrible, selfish thought which she hated herself for having but she couldn't shake it. It wasn't like things would have been any better if they hadn't saved the Ancients, in fact they would most probably have been worse. It would have been her people on Atlantis when the Replicators attacked and regardless of their different tactics and their remarkable ability to survive even some of the worst odds; her people wouldn't have been able to hold off the attack forever.

The majority of her expedition would have been killed; it would have been her close friends that had been slaughtered by the replicators. Instead they were all safe on earth, living their lives and while part of her wished she was with them, the bigger part of her just wanted things to be the way they were.

She returned to the house and was surprised to hear voices inside; the others were usually asleep by now. Walking inside she soon recognised the voices of her Ancient house mates as well as those of a couple of the locals, they were arguing about something but she couldn't tell what. She walked into the main room to find them all standing around, raised voices shouting at one another.

"We will not reduce ourselves to such a low task," Malar stated.

"We have welcomed you into our community and have asked only that you contribute to our way of life. You do only half the work our other villagers are expected to do and we provide you with everything that you need," one of the villagers stated, if Elizabeth's memory served her he was Arnas, one of the leaders here.

"You want us to help you cut up animals," Malar protested.

"It is just one of many tasks here that can sometimes seem distasteful but is necessary to survive," another of the villagers informed them.

"You have to understand," Malaine cut in, being unusually diplomatic but then it was late and the Ancient probably just wanted the villagers to leave. "It is not the type of work we are used to doing, we are well aware of how meat is obtained but it is different to be involved in the process."

"Maybe not, but you will have to try," Arnas continued and Malar opened his mouth to continue his protests when Taros cut it.

"Elizabeth, when did you get back?" he asked and she gave him a small smile as she stepped fully into the room.

"Just now," she replied and then looked at the others. "What's going on?"

Malar merely scoffed and looked away from her leaving Taros to explain "Arnas here would like to involve us in more tasks."

"He wants us to butcher animals," Malar cut in angrily.

"You already helped to kill several of them Malar, on the hunting parties," Elizabeth stated which only seemed to make Malar more annoyed.

"Not that I was given a huge amount of choice," he muttered bitterly and Elizabeth tried not to roll her eyes.

"I'll help," she told Arnas who nodded gratefully and turned to the others expectantly.

"Of course you'd help," Malar stated and Elizabeth raised her eyebrow at him.

"And exactly what is that supposed to mean?" she asked him. She had accepted weeks ago that she and Malar would never share the mutual tolerance that she had with the other Ancients let alone be friends. For the most part they stayed out of each others way, avoiding being in the same room if it was possible but sometimes they had no choice but to put up with each other.

"You are as primitive as the rest of these humans," he told her surprising everyone in the room. Arnas and the other villager had probably had no clue that the Ancients had such negative thoughts on them but the rest of them were just surprised he'd said it out loud, to their faces. "You think you have come a long way but you are no different now to how you were thousands of years ago."

Once she was over her surprise that Malar had been so open with his opinion, Elizabeth was once again surprised that he'd actually stopped there. She knew his opinion of humanity went far lower than that. "Malar, I don't think now is the time," Bren said but it was too late, the truth was out.

"If you have such a low opinion of us then perhaps you should find another planet to live on," Arnas suggested sounding somewhat angry now.

"His opinion is not shared by all of us," Taros quickly supplied, it wasn't a complete lie, Taros himself had a decent view of humanity. "Elizabeth and I will both help with the animals tomorrow."

Arnas nodded his head though it was obvious he was reluctant to do so. He left the house along with the other villager and the group turned to look at Malar. "These people have been very good to us Malar and whilst we may not have much here, we at least have our lives and you just put that in jeopardy," Taros stated with an unusual anger in his voice.

The old Ancient left the room heading in the direction of his bedroom and Elizabeth allowed herself a moment to glare at Malar before she did the same. She walked into her room and closed the door behind her, leaning it on it a moment before she pushed herself away and over to her bed.

She didn't relish the thought of cutting up animals, she'd killed more than she cared to think about in the last month but it was what her life had become. As she dropped onto her bed with a heavy sigh she wondered if she would ever get used to this, if she would ever be able to accept that this was her life now, if she would ever be able to let go off all the things she missed so much.

- - -

John could only watch as Major Lorne's team returned from the last planet on the search list, they were no closer to finding Elizabeth than they had been when all this had started. He watched as the young air force officer spoke to Sam who then turned and headed up the stairs. Lorne locked eyes with John for a brief moment, conveying his apologies to John that they hadn't found her. John nodded his head; it wasn't the Major's fault.

Sam moved to stand by his side as Major Lorne left the gate room below them. "Now what?" he asked quietly.

"That was the last planet on the search list but it doesn't mean we stop looking," Sam replied as the two of them stared down at the inactive stargate.

"This is a big galaxy, Colonel, she could be anywhere," John told her and Sam nodded her head slowly.

"We'll find her," she stated with more confidence than John felt and he wished he could share it.

"I hope so," was all he could manage to say and he pretended he couldn't feel her eyes studying him. He finally turned to look at her and gave her a quick nod before walking away. He stopped just short of the doorway and turned back to her. She was looking down at the gate again, thoughtful expression firmly in place. "And colonel," he said, drawing her attention back to him. "Congratulations on the promotion."

He didn't wait for a response; instead he just left the room and made his way to his room. He wasn't sure exactly what he thought about Sam's promotion yet. She had admitted herself that it had been a lot to do with her being here, he was sure that wasn't completely true. He knew just how much the woman had done over the years she had been working for the stargate programme. In fact if it hadn't been for her and the rest of the original SG1 team, he probably wouldn't be standing here now. They had saved earth from more alien threats than anyone had bothered to count before John had even known the stargate existed. He was sure that she deserved the promotion more than most people but the timing was just wrong.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**Authors Note: Spoilers for echoes in this chapter, it would really help if you've seen the episode, not hugely essential though. **

**Saphiretwin369 – **Thanks for the review, the Ancients are really kinda annoying, except Taros but I wanted people to like him and I felt bad enough for everything I'd put Liz through without having her completely alone. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

**Sparklyshimmer2010 –** I want to strangle Malar too, if I didn't have the majority of this story written now I would have a random scene of some girl who looks an awful lot like me strangling him lol. I haven't quite finished the story yet but it'll be somewhere around 25 chapters. Thanks for the review.

**Kuroima**** – **I kinda made myself sad with the last chapter, I'm glad you liked it though, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Jammeke**** – **I'm glad Sam was in character and yeah, the last chapter was a little on the pessimistic side but things aren't really going so well for them at the moment. Nobody seems to like the Ancients (except Taros) in my story, can't imagine why lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 13

Teyla spun around, blocking Ronon's blow with her right arm before swinging for him with her left. He avoided it and made another attempt to hit her which she backed away from. They circled each other, watching the other's body for any sign of what they were going to do. After several tense moments it was Teyla who moved, stepping towards Ronon so fast he barely had time to register her move before she swung for him. Her bantos rod connected with his left side and he flinched away from it, grabbing her arm with his free one.

She had left herself open and Ronon took full advantage of the rare opportunity, taking her legs out from under her. She hit the floor with a small thud and he pinned her in place with his own body. The air between had been charged throughout the whole fight but now the tension felt thicker, much thicker.

He looked down at her and she watched him a moment, something indefinable in his eyes but it made his body react with a speed and intensity he hadn't been prepared for. Breathing hard, it took every bit of his strength he had to push himself away and stand up. He turned around to help Teyla up but she had already pulled herself up from the floor and was picking up the bantos rods she had dropped.

"You're in good form tonight," she commented, not looking at him as she gathered her things.

"You're not," he replied, still slightly breathless but there was no accusation or cruelty to his tone, only concern. It was unlike her to be so unfocused on the fight that she left him an opening like that.

"I have a lot on my mind," she stated and he nodded his head, she wasn't the only one.

"Do you think we'll find her?" he asked and she looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before she answered.

"At the beginning, yes, I was completely sure that we would find her, there was never a doubt in my mind. Now... I am not so sure, Elizabeth has been missing a long time and the chances that we will find her feel as though they are lessening," she explained sadly. He knew she had been fairly close to Elizabeth; this whole thing had been hard on her.

He couldn't believe how long it had been, it felt like forever had passed since they had returned to Atlantis and discovered their leader was missing. Weeks of searching and they were really no closer to finding her, they knew a lot of places that she wasn't and a few places she had been but none of that helped them to find her.

They walked out of the gym together "She's a strong woman, if anyone can survive out there it's her," he stated knowing all too well how cruel this galaxy could be and he was glad she didn't have the Wraith hunting her down as well.

"I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that she is not alone, she at least has the Ancients with her," Teyla replied and Ronon was momentarily taken aback, he'd never really heard her refer to them as Ancients before, she usually could them the Ancestors, like he did, like everyone else in this galaxy did.

Teyla stopped very suddenly and stared ahead of them, he followed her eyes seeing only the empty corridor before looking back at her. "Teyla?" he questioned but she didn't respond, instead she continued to stare ahead of her, taking several steps forward. "Teyla?" he tried again and though her eyes never left whatever she was looking at she tilted her head slightly, acknowledging that she could hear him.

"Do you not see her?" she asked and Ronon once again looked at the empty corridor.

"See who?" he asked her, concerning clouding his tone now.

"The woman," Teyla replied and then looked as though she was trying to concentrate on something. "I don't understand you," she said to the air in front of her and Ronon's concern grew. He watched as she took a step back and then suddenly looked both shocked and slightly scared as she turned around.

- - -

Rodney stood on the balcony, binoculars in hand as he watched the huge form of the whale in the distance. He knew it was Bruce, his friend who had saved him when he'd been trapped in a submerged and rapidly flooding Jumper. He'd considered naming him Sam, after Samantha Carter, but it would have been weird when the woman herself was now in Atlantis.

She worked in Elizabeth's office, gave the orders that should have been Elizabeth's to give, she was here because Elizabeth wasn't and despite himself, he felt a little bit of resentment toward her. He didn't feel the same infatuation for her that he had before she came to Atlantis. Living in the city with her, working with her everyday had broken into his fantasy idea of her and brought him back to reality. It hadn't completed shattered his fantasy but it had left some pretty large cracks in it.

The truth was his change in heart about Sam had more to do with himself than her. Atlantis had changed him, he could feel the difference in himself from the person he had been when he'd first come here. He was glad of the change, it had made him a better person, it had made him stronger and allowed him to find parts of himself he hadn't known were there. He knew it was the same for many members of the expedition, it was for John and Carson, it had given the same to Ronon and Teyla... it had been for Elizabeth too.

She'd been somewhat naive, when they'd stepped through that gate for the first time, maybe even somewhat innocent, not completely but enough. Like everyone else that had come here though, she had changed, you couldn't be here and go through the things they had and still be the same. She lost that naivety, her belief that words could solve every problem. Her innocence had gone when she gave the first order that had resulted in someone dying.

He admired her for retaining her strength, her dignity and her belief in words – even if she knew their limits now – and everything else that made her who she was. Had he been able to do that? Had he been able to stay the same person even though so many parts of him had been changed by this place?

Still looking through his binoculars he could see his friend was actually getting closer to the city. He sighed and stood up straight, jumping slightly when he realised John was standing right behind him. "How long have you been standing there?" he asked.

"Hour or two," he replied.

"What, why didn't you..." Rodney began but then realised John was joking, something he did rarely at the moment "Very funny."

"I thought so, Teyla's fine by the way, Carson says there's nothing medically wrong with her, she's just tired," John replied staring out at what Rodney had been looking at.

"I think we're all a little tired at the moment," Rodney replied and then gestured toward the whale John was now squinting at "That's Bruce," he told him. John looked at him both confused and expectant and it took Rodney a moment to realise John had no idea who Bruce was. "The whale that saved me."

"You named it Bruce?" John questioned and Rodney was slightly surprised that John had not argued that it had been him and Zelenka who saved him, he usually did.

"Yeah, I had another name in mind but it was... not the right name so I decided to name him after my favourite hero," Rodney explained and once again received an expectant look in response. "Batman."

"You named a whale after Batman?" John asked him incredulously.

"Well it's not really a whale, just whale like," he told him "I've been doing some research on it, the Ancients called it flagesalas – they were terrible at naming things, I know – I'm just calling it whale for now."

"So we're back to the question, you named a whale after Batman?" John replied and Rodney had no response, of course it was going to sound stupid if you said it like that. "Whatever, want to take a closer look?"

- - -

She almost had to laugh at the type of tasks that had become a normal part of her life now, fishing being one of them. She'd spent the last few hours trying to catch the slimy creatures from the river and had been as successful as she always was at this, which wasn't very much. She did however enjoy being able to relax by the river afterwards.

Sitting in the shade of a tree at the edge of the forest she watched the shimmering water flow by. The Ancients had all joined her on this fishing trip, it had been that or another hunting party and they'd all been quick to volunteer for the fishing. They were all currently sitting down by the water, deep in conversation and Elizabeth couldn't help but continue to feel like an outsider. She would never be one of the villagers and she would never be one of the Ancients, she felt more alone here than she had done being on Atlantis without her people.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the tree. Unbidden, an image of John came to mind and she smiled slightly, whether she was smiling at the image or herself she didn't know. John would never have allowed her to end up feeling this way, he always reached out to her, was always there as a constant friend as well as colleague. She realised not for the first time how much she missed him, how much she missed all her friends but John she seemed to miss more. In truth, she had been closer to him than anyone else, closer than she had ever intended to be.

She wondered if maybe she had made a mistake by agreeing to stay in Atlantis; it had seemed like a blessing at the time. Atlantis was her home and the thought of leaving it had been unbearable but she'd been forced to leave it anyway, only now she was cut off from her friends as well.

She stood up and walked away from the river, heading through the trees in the direction of the town. She knew she didn't have to be this cut off from her old life, John and the others were all back on earth but Ronon and Teyla were still in this galaxy. She knew the gate co-ordinates to the new Athosian home world where Ronon and Teyla were, that was if Ronon had been able to sit still this long.

Maybe she should leave; maybe she should go and stay with Teyla and the Athosians. She knew she would be more than welcome and she would feel far less of an outsider though she knew the feeling wouldn't disappear completely. It would be better than this, than constantly feeling alone; at least there she would have a few of her friends around her.

"Elizabeth," she heard Taros call from behind her. She stopped and turned around, waiting for the aging Ancient to catch up with her. "You're not suppose to go through the forest alone," he told her sounding slightly concern.

"Sorry," she replied, there was no use in arguing with him, he could be very fatherly when he wanted to.

"Are you alright?" he asked her and she nodded.

"I just needed to think," she told him and he nodded his head slowly, a look of complete understanding on his face.

"I know you feel like you are alone here but you are not. We're all in this together and despite how the others seem they would be unhappy if you left. Except maybe Malar but he doesn't count," Taros told her bringing her smile to her face "We escaped Atlantis together and it would be difficult to lose a member of the group."

"I guess so," she said thoughtfully as they finally emerged from the trees into the small town that had become their home. She supposed it would be hard to start again somewhere else, her life had changed so many times recently that she wasn't sure another change would be entirely welcome right now. She was settled here, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, and the last thing she needed was to uproot herself again.

So for now she would stay put, hopefully she'd get more used to this than she was because if she didn't she would slowly drive herself insane stuck here. Maybe with more time the Ancients would accept her more, maybe she'd even make proper friends among the locals... or maybe she'd just be stuck like this for the rest of her life.

- - -

John and Rodney had been released from the infirmary a few hours ago and were now hard at work trying to figure out what the whales were doing outside Atlantis. Their lack of hearing didn't seem to be hindering them much, though it was stopping them from being able to have a decent conversation at a normal volume.

Teyla was not doing so well, Ronon had taken her to the infirmary after she had collapsed in the corridor. Almost everyone in the city had begun seeing the apparitions of Ancients that had begun with Teyla. More and more people were falling sick as the masses of whales outside the city continued to increase in number. The Deadalus was preparing to transport the most severe cases to their infirmary which would hopefully put them out of danger.

Sam walked into the infirmary, she could see Ronon sitting by Teyla's bed, the young Athosian was either sleeping or unconscious, she hoped it was the former. She saw Carson; he looked exhausted as he moved from bed to bed, trying to keep his patients both alive and comfortable.

"How's it going here doctor?" she asked Carson as she approached him and the young doctor stopped to look at her.

"Not good, some of these people are running out of time," he told her and her eyes immediately went to Teyla.

"How is she doing?" she asked. John's team, along with Carson and a few others had been hit the hardest by Elizabeth's disappearance, she wasn't sure they could handle another loss right now; it could very easily break them.

"Her condition is getting worse; she'll be one of the first transported to the Deadalus. How are Rodney and Colonel Sheppard doing?" he questioned and she sighed.

"They're getting close to some answers; we know that the Ancients were trying to find ways to communicate with the whales around the same time as the last solar flare. The whales think we can protect them like the Ancients did the last time this happened but they had three ZPMs when they shielded most of the planet, we only have one. Rodney still can't communicate without shouting but Colonel Sheppard's hearing seems to be better," Sam replied.

"Rodney seemed to be more affected by the whales than Colonel Sheppard was when they were in that Jumper. They were lucky they were able to get away from the whales, the close proximity should have knocked them both out not just Rodney," Carson stated and Sam nodded and put her hand on Carson's arm for a moment as she walked away.

She looked at the patients that had over filled the infirmary and she thought for a moment of Janet, what would her friend have done here? Probably exactly what Carson was doing but she couldn't help but wonder. She looked over to Ronon and Teyla in time to see Carson talking to Ronon, after a moment the doctor stepped back and the familiar light of a transport took Ronon and Teyla from the infirmary. That was one less thing for her to worry about.

_"Colonel Carter,"_ John's voice came over ear piece and she tapped it to reply.

"Go ahead."

_"We have an idea,"_ John told her.

- - -

"I just wanna state once again that I was opposed to this idea," Rodney stated as he interfaced the ZPM with the Deadalus' systems.

"As you have said Dr McKay," Hermiod replied "Many times."

_"Rodney, we're approaching the sun," _John's voice told him over the radio.

"What already?" Rodney questioned, picking up his pace. The last thing he wanted was to get fried right now, this was a really bad idea, if it had been a good one he would have come up with it long before John.

_"Yes Rodney already, we need the shield now," _John told him and Rodney worked faster still. _"Rodney," _John said urgently and a few seconds later he finished. The ship jerked and then shook, he could hear a rumbling sound which he knew was the solar flare bouncing off the ship's shield. Deflecting it away from Atlantis and sending it harmlessly into space.

The ship started getting hotter and just when Rodney was beginning to think this wasn't going to work and they were all going to die a horrible, fiery death, the shaking stopped. There was silence through out the room and Rodney took a moment to figure out if he had actually died.

_"That's it, it's over," _John's voice told him and Rodney sighed, falling into the nearest chair and letting himself relax for a minute.

"I knew this would work," he stated and felt several sets of annoyed eyes on him. He ignored them all and relaxed into the chair, this job was stressful. He knew though, mostly thanks to his recent six weeks on earth that he wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

- - -

Teyla woke up in the Atlantis infirmary with a killer headache. It didn't take her long to notice that all of the sounds around her were muffled and she couldn't really distinguish between them. To the side of her Ronon was sitting in a chair, his eyes were partially closed and she could see he was somewhere between awake and asleep.

"Ronon," she said quietly, she barely heard it but her voice sounded weak. It didn't matter however because it had the immediate effect of jolting Ronon back from his limbo to reality. She saw his mouth move and could vaguely hear what she knew was his voice but the words were lost on her. She wondered for a moment if she'd actually heard her own voice or if her head had just filled the sound in for her. If she couldn't hear Ronon properly then there was no ways she'd actually heard herself.

"I can't here you," she breathed, shaking her head slowly and closing her eyes against the pain.

She opened them in time to see Ronon smile at her slightly and then turn around, probably calling for someone. The next thing she knew Carson was there and she could hear his muffled voice trying to tell her something but again, no words actually got through. Carson smiled and pulled out a white board, writing something down before showing it to her.

'Glad you're awake, your hearing should return soon'

She nodded her head and Carson wiped the board clean, handing it to Ronon who wrote something down and then held it up for her.

'A lot of people are using these, it's almost amusing'

"I'll bet," she said or at least she hoped she'd said it, she couldn't really hear it properly.

'How are you feeling?' Ronon wrote on the board.

"Terrible," she told him honestly and he smiled again

'At least you're hoest' he wrote and this time it was Teyla who smiled.

"Hoest?" she questioned in amusement. Ronon turned the board around to see what he had written. He said something she didn't hear which she guessed was somewhere along the lines of cursing as he erased it and wrote something else.

'Don't mock me'

She laughed and then tried to ignore the pain it sent through her head as Ronon wrote something else on the board.

'You in pain?"

She read the words as John and Rodney walked into the infirmary, standing at the opposite side of the bed from Ronon. "I have a headache," she replied to Ronon who then handed the board to John and disappeared from the side of her bed.

'Good to see you awake, how you feeling?' John wrote.

"I've been better," she told him and he nodded.

'Sucks not being able to hear doesn't it.'

She would have responded to that but Ronon came back with Carson in tow along with another white board and some pills. He showed her the board which informed her he had painkillers and she took them from him. She watched as Rodney took the board from John and began to write something, this was already beginning to get annoying, she hoped she got her hearing back really, really soon.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**Saphire – **I don't think Rodney would have the patience to use that white board for long either, glad you liked the mention of Janet, I missed her character in SG1. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Lakewater**** – **Yeah, I mentioned the other name for the whales, think I might have spelt it wrong though lol.

**Sparkly – **I'm glad you think adding Echoes was a good idea, I figured that it's a natural event so it wouldn't be affected by what was happening in Atlantis. The part about how Atlantis had changed everyone practically wrote itself lol. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and thanks for the review.

**Kuroima**** – **lol, I like what you imagined by the use of the name Bruce lol. I'm glad you liked Rodney's thoughts in the last chapter and his line about making sure he wasn't dead. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Steph7085 – **Glad you liked the part with the white boards, thanks for the review.

**Jammeke - **It was weird writing Echoes in the context of my story, a little more angsty and less spirited. I feel horribly for how much I'm torturing John and Elizabeth and it's far from over I'm afraid lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 14

She had quickly moved the conversation out of the control room and into her temporary office. General Landry's voice could only be heard through her ear piece and her side of the conversation was private now as well.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea sir," she continued trying to protest against the orders she'd been given.

"I don't like this any more than you Colonel, but orders are orders," Landry told her, emphasising the last part. She couldn't blame him for that, the last group he'd passed along orders to had stolen a Jumper and left the galaxy.

"Sir, we know that Dr Weir is out there somewhere..." she began but Landry cut her off.

"What you know, Colonel, is that Dr Weir did escape Atlantis and was spotted on several planets in the days that followed. According to all the reports though there has been no sighting of her for over a month. The IOA wants Atlantis to resume its normal operations and the President agrees with them," Landry explained "It's only because it is Dr Weir that's missing that the search has continued for as long as it has."

Sam bit back the annoyed comments on the tip of her tongue and instead asked "How is General O'Neill taking the news?"

"As well as you'd expect," General Landry told her and Sam figured Jack wouldn't have taken this lightly. "He's been fighting this order since he returned last week."

"Sir, there a lot of benefits to continuing this search, bringing Elizabeth home is just one of them. Having access to the knowledge of the Ancients that are with her is surely of high value to the president and the IOA," she tried to rationalise. To be honest the thought of the Ancients had only crossed her mind a few times but if it could help her convince the powers that be on earth not to abandon the search then she'd be willing to consider it a lot more.

"That has all been considered; the truth is the Ancients – ascended or otherwise – have never been willing to share anything with us. Dr Weir spent six weeks trying to convince them to work with us and they weren't interested," Landry told her and Sam repressed a sigh as she stopped pacing around the office and sat down.

"This isn't going to go down well here sir," she told him, reigning in her anger and annoyance.

"I never expected that it would but we both have our orders, Landry out." With that the radio cut off and through the windows of the office Sam saw the stargate shut down. She finally released the sigh that had been building up throughout the conversation and tried to figure out how she was going to tell the entire city that their priority was no longer searching for their missing leader. It was a task that was only going to be made harder by the fact that she knew there were a few people who she couldn't tell over the radio, some people who she was going to have to tell face to face.

Not yet though, she'd do what she could to fight this order first, perhaps somehow she'd manage to convince the powers that be on earth to change their minds, or at least give them a little longer. First things first, she'd have to dial earth back, try to talk General Landry around whilst glaring at his unseen self for hanging up on her, so to speak. Then she would need to try and talk to Jack, somehow she figured he'd know what to do.

- - -

Elizabeth once again tried to wipe the red stains from her hands, rubbing them on the sides of her trousers as she walked out of the trees and into the village. It was the second time since she had been here that she had seen a Vlaos attack. The first time a villager had been killed before they could take the beast down; this time... it was one of the Ancients.

Bren had barely seen it coming, none of them had. It had attacked so fast and without warning, they hadn't even known that there was one in the area. Everyone had tried to stop it, one of the villagers had gone so far as to try and distract its attention but it had been no good. Bren had been killed and two of the villager's had been badly injured. Bren's blood was still on her hands and clothes and the mere sight of it made her feel sick.

Behind her the surviving members of the hunting party were not only helping the injured but carrying Bren's body. Malaine was beside her, she looked shook up and a little stunned, the same way Elizabeth felt. They walked though the village, word spread quickly that someone had been killed and by the time they were nearing the centre of the village the other Ancients were stood there, waiting to see if the rumour that had spread with the news was true. Unfortunately it was; the Ancients had lost one of their own.

"Malaine?" Taros questioned as the body came around the corner. She bowed her head silently, staring at the floor with a look of sorrow she hadn't even had when the rest of her people had been killed on Atlantis.

She realised then that the surviving Ancients had become a family; that they had become very dependant on each other and losing one of them now was like tearing off a limb. Whether she felt like it or not, Elizabeth was a part of that group as well now and while she knew if it had been her instead of Bren it would not have hit them as hard, she knew they would have been saddened by her loss.

"How did it happen?" Malar asked his voice calmer than his face suggested he actually was.

"Vlaos," Elizabeth replied when it became apparent that Malaine couldn't. "We didn't see it coming, we tried to save him but there was nothing anyone could have done."

"Where are you taking him?" Taros asked the men who were still carrying their friend's body.

"To be prepared for burial, it is our custom but if you wish for something else to be done..." a middle aged man began but Taros cut him off.

"No, no, please continue," he told them and they could do nothing but watch as Bren's body was carried away.

- - -

John looked around the briefing room where his team had gathered along with Carson. They'd come here on Sam's request and were now waiting on her to show up. He knew something was wrong, had been able to tell from the lack of information she'd given him when she'd ordered him to gather his team and meet her here. She'd been evasive and unspecific and he knew she'd been in contact with earth this morning. He was excellent at math, adding all this up brought him to the conclusion that he wasn't going to like this.

Sam finally walked into the room and Ronon, Carson and Rodney stopped bickering with each other and joined John and Teyla in looking at Sam expectantly. "I'm gonna get straight to the point," she told them "This morning we were ordered to return to normal operations."

"What exactly does that mean?" Ronon asked gruffly.

"What about Elizabeth?" Teyla questioned.

Sam sighed before she answered "Earth feels we haven't found any strong leads on her whereabouts and we're no closer to finding her than we had been at the start."

"So finding her is no longer a priority?" Carson asked with more anger in his voice than anyone was used to hearing from the good natured doctor.

"Not for them," Sam told them.

"That's not fair," Rodney stated in annoyance "Elizabeth has done a lot for Atlantis and for them, they can't just abandon her."

"No one's abandoning her Rodney," Sam tried to explain "We'll still be searching for her but we can't dedicate all of resources to it anymore. Some of the teams will have to go back to exploring the Pegasus Galaxy and looking for technology to help us fight the Wraith and the Replicators. I'll be keeping your team on the search; you can still look for her."

"We'll just have less chance of finding her," Ronon finished and silence filled the room for several tense moments before Sam broke it.

"I know this isn't what any of you want to hear and I tried to fight this. You know I've opened the gate to earth more times today than in the last month. General O'Neill is still trying to get them to divert more resources back to the search on earth but for right now we have to start getting Atlantis back to normal," Sam told them and probably realised the second that the words were out that they were the wrong ones to say.

"Normal means having Elizabeth here," Rodney stated and then walked out of the office. Carson was quick to follow him along with Ronon and Teyla.

John still stood there, routed to the spot, having been completely silent since Sam had walked into the room. He wasn't sure what to make of this, somewhere in him he knew that Atlantis had to start returning to its normal operations at some point, they were lucky they'd been able to search as long as they had. At the same time this was Elizabeth that was missing and he wasn't ready to admit defeat.

"What do you think?" Sam asked him and John sighed.

"I think that Elizabeth deserves better," was all the answer he could give before he left the room.

He hadn't seen Elizabeth for two and half months now; he couldn't believe that's how long it had been since the expedition team had been summarily kicked out of Atlantis. She may only have been missing a month but it had been two and half months since he'd seen her. Two and a half months since he had last spoke to her, two and a half months since he had left her in what he had thought was the safety of the city. He hated himself for leaving her here though he knew there was nothing else he could have done. She was supposed to be safe, she was supposed to be protected in this city and he'd thought that having the Ancients operating the city at a level they'd never been able to would make up for him not being here to do it himself.

He'd even considered going to talk to Dr Heightmeyer about all of this, he knew Rodney had been to see her and Carson and Teyla had been through a session with her as well. There was no point though, he knew what she'd say if he went. 'It wasn't your fault, you couldn't have done anything differently, you couldn't have changed anything.' The truth was he'd never know if he could have changed anything, if somewhere along the way he could have done something differently and maybe none of this would have happened.

- - -

"Bren was a good man; he served his people to the best of his ability which was a phenomenal amount. When we first returned to this galaxy, we were ill prepared for how much it had changed and soon found ourselves as refugees. Our people are gone, we are all that remains of them and we have become in many ways a family. Events have brought us closer, strengthened the bonds between us in ways we could not have imagined. To lose Bren now, when those bonds are so strong is so much harder than any of us would have expected. We send you on dear brother."

Taros moved back to the side of the grave where Elizabeth and the other Ancients were standing. They all watched in silence as the coffin containing the body of Bren was lowered into the grave that had been dug for him. It felt cheap, as though he'd been cheated out of a proper send off, it just felt as though he deserved more than an unmarked grave on an alien world.

When the funeral was over Elizabeth walked away alone, would that be her one day? Would the only testament to her life be an unmarked grave on some planet no one she knew would ever find and a piece of paper back on earth? She wanted so badly to be back on earth at that moment, to be with her friends. It wasn't Atlantis but at least there she would have had them.

She had been around so much death in the last few months and she wasn't sure how she was actually getting through it all. Bren shouldn't have died, he didn't deserve that, he'd survived a war with the Wraith and the slaughter of his people by the Replicators, this felt wrong.

Bren had only been on a couple hunting parties since they had come here over a month ago, why did he have to be on the one where a Vlaos had attacked. Elizabeth had been on five, she went almost every week and had always returned without a scratch, it wasn't fair.

She couldn't believe how long she had been here, couldn't believe how normal things like hunting had become for her. At first killing those animals had been hard, she'd felt guilty for it even though she knew it had to be done. After a while though she stopped feeling guilty, she almost became numb to it, that itself told her how much this place was changing her and it just made her want to leave it even more.

She couldn't though, especially not right now. The group had already lost one member and she couldn't walk away from it now. Besides, as she'd already figured out, it would be too hard to uproot herself and start again somewhere else.

- - -

Sam sighed as she dropped down onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. She had no idea what to do now, no idea what her next move should be. She knew that Atlantis needed to resume its normal functioning; that they needed to start going back to their usual missions and exploration but it did feel like she was abandoning Dr Weir.

She didn't want to take people off the search but they couldn't continue searching every planet in the galaxy and hope they just happened to stumble onto the right one. For now, she was more than happy to let John's team continue to do just that, at least until they came up with a better plan. However, she also knew that they couldn't continue looking forever and the thought of ever having to stop them wasn't one she relished.

Maybe she wouldn't have to, maybe they really would get lucky and just happen to stumble across the missing diplomat. It was an unlikely scenario but in her experience with the stargate programme, the unlikely was usually what they got. That was especially true for SG1 and from everything she'd heard and read; Atlantis' flagship team was no different to earths.

She'd told Jack she wouldn't give up, promised him without words that she would find Elizabeth... she couldn't fail.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**Kuroima – **Thanks for the review, the last chapter was kinda sad and unfortunately this one isn't much better lol, I hope you enjoy it anyway.

**Saphire – **I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, thanks for the review.

**Sparkly – **I just couldn't see Ronon as the type to sit through therapy lol, I'm glad you think I captured Elizabeth well in the last chapter. Thanks for the review.

- - -

Chapter 15

As the team entered the village the locals stared at them with curious gazes, many of them simply stood and watched the new comers pass by. Finally someone approached them, a middle aged man with greying hair, his once youthful face marked with lines of age. "May I help you?" he asked and John prepared to give the well practiced introductions.

"I'm Colonel Sheppard, this is Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex," he stated, gesturing to each of his team members in turn.

"I am Galan, do you wish to speak to our leader?" he asked and John nodded with a small smile.

"That'd be great," he replied and Galan led the way through the wood built houses of the village. The locals continued to watch them and John couldn't help but notice the dark atmosphere that seemed to be hanging over the entire village. It felt an awful lot like fear.

They approached a small house that was probably pretty close to the centre of the village and Galan knocked on the door. It took a less than a minute for the door to open revealing yet another aging man, this one older and with lines of worry running along beside those that revealed his age. "Galan," he greeted. "I see you have brought guests."

"They just arrived in the village," Galan explained and an odd look seemed to pass between them before the older man spoke again.

"I am Nyr, the leader here, please come in," he said as he stepped back from the door and John took the invitation to enter, following Nyr through to what could pass as a living room. "Please, please sit down."

They all did as instructed, sitting on the rather large, comfy furniture as Nyr left the room along with Galan. "At least they seem nice," Rodney commented and John nodded his head slowly, something felt off.

"Ah, please help yourselves to a drink," Nyr said as he returned to the room with a tray full of drinks which he set down on the table in the middle of the room. He and Galan sat down as well and there were several moments of awkward silence before Nyr spoke. "What brings you here?" he asked them.

"We're actually looking for someone," John stated "Have you had any visitors to your planet recently?"

"A few," Nyr replied and John reached into his pocket pulling out the picture of Elizabeth for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Have you seen her, she'd be travelling with others?" he asked. Nyr took the picture, studying it before he shared another look with Galan.

"She is very pretty; I believe I have seen her," he stated and John felt every muscle in his body go tense and Nyr handed him the picture back.

"When?" Rodney quickly jumped in.

"A few days ago, she and those she was with are still on this planet I believe," he told them and John felt a spark of hope he wished he hadn't. "They wished to have their privacy; they are living in a cabin in the forest."

"You're sure it was her?" John asked and the old man looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded his head. "Can you tell us where this cabin is?"

"They wished for their privacy, I am not sure it would be a good idea," he stated "Why are you searching for her?"

"She is the leader of our people," Teyla explained when John didn't immediately respond "There was an attack several weeks ago and she is now missing. We have been searching for her since."

After seemingly taking a few moments thought Nyr smiled "Then I suppose I can tell you where she is. Please wait here, I will have someone retrieve a map for you, the forest can be most confusing, it would be easy for someone who did not know it to get lost."

John watched as Nyr left the room with Galan a few steps behind, looking back at his team he saw Teyla staring at the door the two men had just left through. "I do not believe they are being truthful," she stated quietly and John nodded his head.

"Me neither, they're lying about something," he replied thoughtfully.

"What?!" Rodney exclaimed "Why would they be lying?"

"I don't know Rodney but they are lying, the question is what about," John mused; he hated the hope he could feel despite the warning alarms going off in his head.

"What do you wanna do?" Ronon questioned.

"We can't afford to ignore what they're saying, if there's a chance Elizabeth is here then we have to take it. We'll just keep our eyes open," he told them just in time for Nyr to walk back into the room however Galan was nowhere to be seen.

"Here is the map," he said laying down the piece of paper in front of them. "This is the village and this is the where the cabin is. There are some wild animals in the forest so you should be careful," he told them and John couldn't shake the feeling there was more going on here than he knew about and it wasn't a feeling he liked.

- - -

They had been walking through the forest for less than half an hour when they realised that even with the map and the incredibly good sense of direction the majority of the team had, they had managed to get lost. They deserved it though really, giving Rodney the map had probably not been the best idea in the world. Genius he may be but the man was no boy scout, reading scribbled maps was defeinitely not one of his skills.

"We were on track ten minutes ago," Rodney defended petulantly and for what was probably the fifth time.

"That doesn't change the fact that we're lost now Rodney," John replied in frustration as he kicked a rather large stone on the ground.

"It's not my fault," the scientist tried to argue. Ronon turned to him, angry expression in place.

"You better figure out where we are now McKay or I'm gonna shoot you," Ronon informed the scientist who hastily went back to looking at the map. Threats always seemed to make Rodney work just that little bit faster.

"Alright, I think it's this way," Rodney stated, looking up from the map and beginning to walk away from the rest of the group. They followed along behind him, ready to take the map from him if he didn't figure this out soon. Teyla suddenly stopped walking, a look of concern and concentration on her face.

"Teyla?" Ronon questioned.

It was several seconds before Teyla responded though her focus was clearly elsewhere. "There are Wraith here," she stated which had the immediate effect of putting everyone on alert. Both John and Ronon had their weapons in their hands, prepared to fire at the first sign of danger.

"Are you sure?" Ronon asked her.

"Yes, there are several of them," she stated as her hands went to her own weapon. "I do not know why I did not sense them sooner."

"You've had a lot on your mind," John replied.

The bushes to the side of them moved and within a second it had three weapons pointing at it as Rodney dropped the map in favour of his handgun. Footsteps behind them caught their attention and though John kept his P90 aimed at the bush, Ronon and Teyla both turned around to find the Wraith heading toward them.

They both fired several shots but Teyla was quickly stopped when she was hit by the blast from a wraith stunner. Her knees buckled and she turned around, there were two more Wraith heading toward the group, both carrying stunners and she fought the affects of the blast enough to lift her weapon and fire on them.

John fired at the Wraith as it stepped out of the bushes but as usual the Wraith kept coming at him, just when it seemed like it was about to succumb someone rushed it from the side. There was no

time to see who it was, he fired on the other Wraith that were approaching the group, helping Teyla to take out the two that were closing in on her as Ronon and Rodney finished off the others. The struggle on the ground was already over; the Wraith being full of bullets had never had a chance. Its attacker stood up and looked at them with familiar eyes that had everyone freezing in place.

"Aiden?" Teyla finally questioned, picking herself up from the ground and moving to stand beside John.

"So you weren't killed on the Wraith ship," John stated and the young, lieutenant shook his head.

"I'm not that easy to kill anymore," Aiden replied as he looked over the group.

"What are you doing here?" he asked them.

"Elizabeth is missing," John stated and Aiden looked both shocked and worried "It's a long story, she left Atlantis with a group of Ancients a month ago and we've been looking for her since."

Aiden opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of more movement nearby. "We shouldn't stay here, there are more Wraith," he stated as he turned to walk away.

"He is correct," Teyla told them and John nodded in a silent command for them to follow their former team member. For what felt like forever there was nothing but the sound of footsteps and leaves crunching beneath their feet as they walked thought the trees. There was a tension between them that should never have been there but with everything that had happened between them since Aiden's abrupt departure from Atlantis, tension was to be expected.

"I suppose the villagers told you that she was here," Aiden said as they made their way through the trees. "That's what they do, whenever they get visitors at the right time they trick them into going into the forest."

"Why?" Ronon questioned gruffly from behind them.

"They had a deal with the Wraith living in the forest; they'd send a group of sacrifices into the forest when the Wraith needed to feed and in return they would not attack the village and kill everyone in it. If they can avoid sending in their own people they will, that's how we found out the Wraith were here," Aiden explained.

"And by we I take it you mean your band of merry followers," John questioned and Aiden nodded his head as they emerged in the village. Surprise flickered across many of the local's faces; apparently most of them had known his team were being sent to their deaths. They had barely been in the village for a few minutes when Galan and Nyr walked over to them.

"Did you find your friend?" Nyr questioned innocently but John could see the nervousness beneath the man's facade.

"No, but we found your friends," John replied and watched as both men became visibly agitated. "Or rather they found us but I think that was the idea wasn't it?"

"Please understand, we a re a simple people we have no way to fight them..." Nyr began to explain but John cut him off.

"What I understand is that you lied to us, that you sent _my _team into that forest to die," John stated, he was angry but he knew he shouldn't be as angry as he was. This was more about Elizabeth than anything else; they had given him the smallest glimmer of hope only for it to be brutally ripped away from him again.

"The majority of the Wraith are dead," Aiden cut in as John continued to silently fume. "The rest of them will be dead by the end of the day."

"So you can stop sending people in there to die," Ronon finished, anger in his voice and Nyr shrunk back slightly. John glared at the man, making sure he understood just how angry John was before he turned and headed out of the village. He didn't want to spend anymore time on this planet than he absolutely had to.

His team and Aiden followed him to the gate without as much as a backward glance at the village. "Rodney, dial the gate," John ordered and Rodney did as he was told without complaint.

"I heard rumours that there was a group of Ancients travelling around the galaxy, I also heard that they had settled on a planet somewhere, I couldn't tell you which one though," Aiden told John who only nodded his head in understanding. "I'm sorry I can't be more help, I'll keep a look out, if I find out anything I'll contact you."

"Thanks," John replied quietly as the stargate engaged behind him and Aiden turned to walk away. He could vaguely hear his team stepping through the event horizon behind him. "Ford," John called to the retreating form which stopped and turned around. "It's good to see you again."

The lieutenant smiled slightly and gave a quick, two fingered solute before he continued on his way. John took one last look at the planet and at the man walking away. He refused to let Elizabeth be another Ford, he refused to let her be another person that they lost and never got back, he wasn't going to give up.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

**Sparkly – **I'm glad you're enjoying the story, I kind feel bad for giving them all false hope in the last chapter. Thanks for the review. 

**Saphire – **I thought adding Ford in would be a nice surprise; I refuse to believe he's dead. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter. 

**Jammeke – **Thanks for the review, finding Ford would definitely be a plus, now if only they could find Elizabeth that would be all their missing expedition members lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter. 

**Kuroima – **I'm glad Ford was a surprise and a good surprise at that, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Steph – **I'm too lazy to put your numbers on too lol, I don't think they'll be any more appearances from Aiden but I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I told you you'd like Sam lol, thanks for the review. 

- - -

Chapter 16

Another planet and another dead end, Elizabeth hadn't been here, any hope of finding her was quickly dwindling. John sighed as he watched Teyla talking to one of the locals, they'd been ordered to stay here and try to negotiate a trade agreement with the local population. Rodney and Ronon were currently staying out of the way; both of them were stood at the edge of a nearby field bickering about something. 

"John," Teyla called and John diverted his attention back to her as she walked toward him.

"Well?" he questioned and Teyla looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable. She looked down at the floor for a moment, seemingly trying to avoid his eyes for a second before she looked back at him. 

"They are willing to trade with us but they wish to speak... with the leader of Atlantis," she told him and John felt his stomach twist. 

"I'll get Carter," he stated after a moment and Teyla gave him a look of sympathy which he chose to ignore. He turned and headed for the stargate, pausing after a few steps to look back at his team. Teyla had joined Ronon and the two of them were sitting in the field. There seemed to be a funny atmosphere between the two of them. It had been noticeable from the moment they retook Atlantis but it seemed to have increased in the last month.

Rodney was now talking to one of the villagers and looked moderately interested in whatever was being said. It felt wrong; that they were all living their lives, that they were here working on some trade agreement whilst Elizabeth was God knows where. Two months, that's how long she'd been missing now and he hated the realisation that he was actually getting used to it, that Elizabeth not being there was beginning to feel normal. 

He left the village, making the short walk back to the stargate by himself: he needed a chance to think. He missed her, it was blatantly obvious to everyone but none of them realised just how much he missed her, it had surprised even him. He missed being able to talk to her, he missed their 

conversations on the balcony, missed looking up at the control room before a mission and seeing her standing there, a silent message to be safe in her eyes. He missed so many of the things that he hadn't noticed before but now that they weren't there he felt very aware of them. 

He dialled the familiar gate address almost on autopilot and stared at the shimmering event horizon for several moments before he remembered why he was there in the first place. "Atlantis, this is Colonel Sheppard," he radioed and waited the few second it took for Carter to reply "The locals here are open to trade but they want to speak to the leader of Atlantis."

There was silence on the other end of the radio, probably as Sam figured out how to respond to that without upsetting anybody. "I guess they'll have to settle for me for now," was her reply and John had to commend her for it. 

He had to commend her for a lot if he was honest. She had taken over running the city and allowed his team to search for Elizabeth all they wanted, only stopping them when they needed the rest. She hadn't had it easy, he knew she was getting pressured on all sides but so far she'd proven herself to be an ally. She hadn't crossed any lines, hadn't ever talked about Atlantis or its people as hers. She'd never mentioned the items that had shown up in the office that had come from Elizabeth's quarters – he still had no idea who'd done that – and she'd never attempted to move them. In all honesty, he was glad she was here, she had been more of a help than a hindrance and if Jack hadn't brought her in then the IOA would probably have sent someone else who in all probability would not have been so understanding. 

- - -

Kneeling amongst rows and rows of some vegetable she couldn't remember the name of but knew for a fact she didn't like, Elizabeth felt slightly nauseous, they didn't smell nice either. The wicker basket by her knees was only half full and she wouldn't be able to leave this field until it was full. Beside her Malaine looked equally as sick, none of the Ancients liked these vegetables either, apparently it was an acquired taste. 

She pulled another vegetable out of the ground and placed it in the basket with a heavy sigh. This was quite possibly the most tedious task she'd had to do since she'd come to this planet. 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Malar walking by with a wheel barrow full of crops and he looked less than thrilled that he'd had to work in the field with them that morning. He caught her gaze and sent her a 'mind your own business look' and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she returned to gathering the foul vegetables. 

"I feel that I owe you an apology Dr Weir," Malaine stated beside her, surprising Elizabeth just by talking to her. Elizabeth looked around at her, following her eyes back to Malar "I know we have not been the easiest people to live with."

"Some of you are easier than others," Elizabeth replied.

"It is hard... to return to the galaxy and learn that everyone we ever knew is long since gone, then to lose everyone else. Malar is not a bad person, just very proud," Malaine tried to explain apologetically and Elizabeth nodded her head.

"I'm sure it has been hard," was all she could think to say.

"On you as well, I am sure," Malaine stated and Elizabeth looked at her, slightly surprised. "You have lost everyone that you knew as well. Maybe not in the same way but you are completely cut off from them. I've wondered many times if we made the right decision, bringing you with us."

"Oh really?" Elizabeth questioned, dropping another vegetable into the wicker basket.

"Yes, it may sound horrible but it is the truth. I have often wondered if we should have left you with your allies, the Athosians, not only would you be happier but..." Malaine trailed off, probably deciding that whatever she was going to say was not polite so Elizabeth finished for her. 

"But you would not have had to deal with me," Elizabeth finished questioningly.

"Not exactly as I would have put it... but yes," Malaine replied. "It would have been dangerous for you to have gone to them though. The replicators are no doubt aware that your people were allies and that you yourself have friends there."

Elizabeth sighed, letting the conversation drop; she brushed a few stray strands of hair behind her ear with slightly dirty hands as she pulled a final vegetable from the ground and dropped it into the basket. Satisfied that she had filled it sufficiently during her conversation with Malaine she stood up, picking up the basket as she did so.

"I'll see you back at the house later," she told Malaine who hummed her acknowledgement.

- - -

There seemed to be a constant cloud over the city, the atmosphere didn't feel as good, as happy as it usually was. Teyla wondered if it was just her, if the fact that her leader and friend was still missing was tainting her view. The city was unchanged and everywhere she went she saw people smiling, people continuing with their lives, the only testament to their concern for their missing leader was the occasional supporting nod in her direction, the odd 'I hope you find her. Perhaps it really was all in her head; perhaps she was just imagining it. 

She missed Elizabeth a great deal, in a lot of ways she had been the one person Teyla could truly relate to. Sure she had Ronon, they had both lived under the shadow of the Wraith their entire lives and in that way she could relate to him. In most ways though there was only Elizabeth, they were both female leaders, both tied to their roles and their responsibility to their people.

She saw the effect that her absence was having on those closest to her. Rodney was quieter, which in itself was a worry, he rarely complained about the amount of exercise he was getting in their search and he spent such a little amount of time in his lab. It was as though his love for science had fallen back and his entire focus was on finding his friend. Carson, usually the happier, more optimistic member of their group seemed to have developed an aura of sadness that followed him everywhere. 

John was by far the most affected by Elizabeth's disappearance though, he'd been closer to her than anyone. There had always been something between John and Elizabeth, some invisible bond that kept pulling them closer, if she hadn't thought it before she definitely did now. The smooth talking, 

wise cracking, cocky young man was gone, buried beneath the surface. In his place was a much quieter, much more withdrawn man and Teyla hoped that she would soon get both of her friends back, not just Elizabeth but John as well.

Even Ronon was feeling it, though it was a misconception that the tall, quiet, brooding Satedan didn't feel much. He felt everything just as everyone else did, he just hid it better. This he was feeling to the point where the people closest to him could actually see it, that said it all. 

She wasn't entirely sure where she stood with Ronon at the moment; their close friendship seemed to have changed into something else. There was something hanging between then, untouched and undefined. It was as though their time on Athos had changed something, or brought to light something that had always been there beneath the surface. Part of her wanted to explore it, to discover what it was and where it would lead them but another part of her told her it was best to continue ignoring it. 

She wasn't sure if her other team mates had noticed yet, she was fairly sure John was picking something up, he was an observant man and far more clever than he let on. Rodney seemed to be oblivious for now but that would only last so long. Still, she had no idea what she was supposed to do about this. On the one hand if she confronted this then she could well be heading into dangerous territory, she could end up destroying the friendship she had with Ronon. On the other hand, Elizabeth being missing showed her just how fragile life here was. Anything could happen at any minute and it was entirely possible that if she didn't confront this now, she wouldn't get another chance.

She was forced to put a stop to her musings when the very object of her thoughts walked into the gym. She realised then that thinking about all of this right before she had to spar with the man had probably not been the best idea. "Hey," he greeted oblivious to her thoughts.

"Hey," she replied now feeling somewhat awkward, damn her inappropriately timed musings. He dropped his bag in the corner of the room and after a less than thorough round of stretching during which Teyla had to chide herself for watching him a little too intently, he found his bantos stick and they took up positions. 

They circled around each other for a minute but Teyla's patience was not with her today. She moved toward him, bringing her bantos rod with her but the move had been easy to spot and Ronon blocked it. She spun around; attempting to hit him from the other side but that was easily blocked too. She jumped back from him in a graceful move that put a safe amount of distance between them. 

"You've not been concentrating in these sessions recently," Ronon stated as he swivelled the bantos rod around in his hand. He was watching her intently, watching every tiny movement her body made for some sign of what she was going to do next.

"I have had a lot on my mind," she answered quickly, trying to push her earlier thoughts out of her mind but without luck. Her focus momentarily shifted away from Ronon and to her own thoughts, he must have sensed it because that was when he made his move. His bantos rod connected with her hand so hard that it knocked her own weapon to the floor.

She attempted a recovery, trying to move herself away from him but it was too late. He followed her move; his arm left arm pressed across her chest and pushed her back into the wall whilst his other hand held the bantos rod to her neck. Struggling got her nowhere, except pinned more firmly against the wall so she dropped her remaining weapon in a sign of surrender. The tiniest hint of a smile appeared on his face as he continued to hold her there, his heavy breathing felt warm against her skin and damn her body for reacting to it. 

Her thoughts from earlier filled her mind again along with all the possibilities that came along with them. She was overcome by the very unhelpful urge to grab his face and kiss him and if he didn't move away soon she might actually end up doing it. Thankfully, he did move away and Teyla held back a sigh of relief as she slipped herself away from him and the wall. There was no way she was putting herself through that again, not right now anyway.

"Perhaps we should continue this another time, when my concentration has returned," she suggested. He didn't offer any protest or question her any further, in fact she got the impression he was as eager to leave as she was.

"Yeah," he responded and walked over to the corner to pick up his things "I'll see you later," he told her as he left.

Teyla waited until the doors had closed behind him before she let the sigh of relief loose. She really needed to figure out what she was going to do because she had a sneaking suspicion those kinds of situations were going to keep coming up. 

- - -

She was enjoying some much needed time off from the constant stream of chores and tasks that seemed to come as part of living the simple life. For now there was no need to hunt animals, gather crops, fish or any of the other activities that had become normal for her now.

Elizabeth sat beneath the shade of a tree, the sun was high in the sky on an unusually hot day and since there was no such thing as air conditioning here, the shade was the only respite she had from the heat. She pulled her knees up closer to her chest, staring at the house in front of her, would it ever feel like home?

She saw the back door open and relaxed a little when she saw it was only Taros, he walked over to her, sitting beside her wordlessly. He followed her gaze to the house and they sat there for several moments just staring at it. "We all miss Atlantis," he stated and the notion that Atlantis had been as much their home as it had been hers did nothing to help her current mood. "You miss your friends as well."

"I do," she replied "Very much."

"Now that I have come to know you, I find it intriguing that you would choose to remain on Atlantis when everyone else was returning to earth," he stated and Elizabeth turned her head to meet his knowing blue eyes.

"How's that?" she questioned. 

"You were... are very attached to the city, this is no secret but you were far more attached to her people, to certain ones in particular I think," he explained and she found herself analysing his words, there may have been some truth to them. "So it is surprising that you would have chosen to stay behind when they were forced to leave."

"I thought I needed Atlantis, I do need Atlantis but it wasn't the same without the people. I think that, maybe... I needed them both," she replied, unsure why she was being so honest with him when until this point she hadn't even been this honest with herself. 

"I remember the day they left, the small group that you said goodbye to at the gate as well as the two who went with the Athosians. There was a great feeling of... family between you all," he said and she could only nod her head to that.

"We were very much a family, Teyla I could relate to very easily, she was very wise for age. Ronon was quiet but very, very loyal, I could respect him. Carson was the gentlest man I ever knew and Rodney was a constant pain in the neck but he had so many redeeming qualities that I'm not entirely sure he even realised he had," she told him, not knowing why she was being so open, maybe it all just needed to come out. "John was... John was John," she finished, unsure of how else to describe him or unwilling to try.

"He was dear to you," Taros stated rather bluntly.

"He was a good friend," Elizabeth answered, staring at the ground by her feat and hoping she didn't sound as defensive as she thought she did.

"No," he said quietly and Elizabeth turned to look at him again, his knowing eyes seemed to be looking right through her "He was more than that."

He stood up and went back into the house before Elizabeth's mind could come up with any response, not that it came up with one anyway. She'd been forced to face up to a lot of truths over the last few months, her time here had brought to light a lot of herself she either hadn't known or denied was there. She missed all of her friends but the truth was she missed John the most, a fact that she had tried to ignore. 

It didn't matter though, he was on earth with the others and she was here and no amount of wishing it was different was going to change that. She'd just have to accept it, holding on to him... to them, she mentally chastised herself, wasn't going to change that. She couldn't even visit Ronon and Teyla on Athos; it would be too dangerous both for them and for her. No, it was time she let it go, let all of it go. 

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

**Jammeke – **I'm glad I finally got to write Elizabeth realising her feelings it's a shame she thinks John's in another galaxy. Teyla's thoughts on the team were my favourite part of the last chapter so I'm glad that came out well. Thanks for the review. 

**Saphire – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the Ronon and Teyla scene, now that Elizabeth has realised her feelings John just has to find her lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Sparkly – **(looks shifty) of course they'll find her. As for the original search they were searching all the planets within Jumper distance of Atlantis cos they knew Elizabeth had escaped in a Jumper. I'm glad you liked the Spanky scene and it was kinda a sad ending, unfortunately it doesn't get much better in this chapter. Thanks for the review. 

**Kuroima – **I'm glad you liked the Spanky scene in the last chapter, it is a shame didn't give into the urge to kiss him but all in good time lol. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter. 

**Steph – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the Ronon and Teyla scene, everyone keeps telling me off for keeping John and Liz apart so long lol. Thanks for the review and hope you enjoy this update. 

- - -

Chapter 17

Sam walked into the briefing room where John and his team were gathered as per her request. She wasn't sure how she was going to do this, she wasn't sure she wanted to do this. She'd tried to fight the order but one again she'd been ignored; the powers that be on earth seemed to be doing that a lot lately. She couldn't even be straight with them, 'do it without them knowing' what the hell kind of order was that?

"Colonel," John greeted as she entered the room, she didn't bother to sit down.

"I know you planned to go to another planet on the search today," she began and everyone seemed to detect the 'but' in her tone before she'd even said it "But I think it's best if you go on a regular mission instead."

Far from the angry argument she'd been expecting the room fell silent which actually worried her more. All eyes were on her and she felt uncomfortable under their scrutiny. They were trying to figure her out, trying to understand why she'd be stopping them from searching for Elizabeth and she needed to forestall any conclusions they might jump to. She needed time; time to convince earth that this was the wrong move. 

"I know you all want to find Dr Weir, I do as well but I think it would be best if you just... take a break, take one mission off and do something else. It's just one mission, you can be back to the search in a couple of days," she tried to explain.

The room remained silent for several moments, until Ronon walked out without a word and Teyla followed him. Rodney nodded his head slowly as though he was confirming his own thoughts to himself before he too left the room and Sam once again found herself alone with John after putting yet another dent in his search, it seemed to have almost become a personal crusade for him. 

"Where are we going?" he asked her, the others had been unconcerned with the details of their mission.

"You're escorting one of the science teams," Sam told him and she could see him trying not to sigh and roll his eyes, nobody liked escort missions but they were necessary, usually easy and routine and hopefully wouldn't take long.

John said something that she didn't quite catch and then left the room. Sam walked over to one of the chairs and dropped herself into it with a heavy sigh. She'd known when she'd agreed to come here that this wasn't going to be easy, that she'd spend the entire time walking a very fine line. It was going to be impossible to keep both sides happy, earth wanted Atlantis back to normal but Atlantis wasn't ready to let go of its leader. 

She'd known today was going to be a bad day from the moment she'd been ordered to try and starting getting John and his team off the search. Did they think that if she stopped them slowly they wouldn't notice and just naturally begin to let Elizabeth go? If there was one thing she'd learnt while she'd been here it was that they were never going to let her go, not until she was back in Atlantis. 

- - -

John walked into Rodney's lab, they still had an hour before their babysitting mission and John was going to go stir crazy. He hated sitting around and do nothing under normal circumstances but with Elizabeth still out there he hated it even more. He'd been kept busy for the last few months, barely having time to sit around and do nothing.

Rodney was sitting there with some complicated looking 'thing' in his hand, his attention seemed to be solely focused on it and he hadn't even noticed John enter the room. He walked to the scientist's side and leaned in "What you doing?" he asked suddenly and Rodney jumped, almost dropping the device.

"What am I doing, what are _you _doing?" Rodney exclaimed "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry, saw an opening," John shrugged and moved to sit on the opposite side of the lab bench.

"What are you doing in here anyway?" Rodney asked.

"Nothing else to do with myself, we would have been off world now but since our plans got changed..." John trailed off, bitterness lacing his tone.

"Look, I know you probably don't wanna hear this but maybe Sam's right," Rodney stated and after receiving a raised eyebrow from John he continued. "We've been searching for over two months; we haven't had a single lead on her since the first week."

"What are you saying McKay?" John asked angrily, a dark tone entering his voice that had the scientist momentarily shrinking back. "That we should just give up, that we should just leave her out there."

"You know that's not what I mean!" Rodney replied, he stood up, his voice rising as he found his own anger. "If you'd let me finish, I was gonna say that maybe taking a couple of days to do something 

normal would do us all some good. I'm not suggesting we give up but a break might be a good idea, we can carry on the search after."

"Come on McKay!" John shouted "You're a smart man; don't tell me you don't see what they're doing. This isn't about us taking a break; it's about weaning us off. It's about getting us to put all this behind us so we can go back to doing the missions they want us to do. They're not interested in finding Elizabeth; they don't care where she is, as long as Atlantis is functioning they don't care who's in charge." 

"Of course I see what they're doing," Rodney replied "But Sam won't just let them stop the search."

"She's following orders Rodney, just like we are," John stated.

"She's been missing for two months," Rodney shouted "You feel guilty for it, I get it. You left her here, you left her in the city and now she's gone. Do you really think you're the only person who feels guilty for that? We all left her here, not just you. Why do you think we've been searching for as long as we have? Why do you think people have been fighting to keep searching for her? Ronon, Teyla, me, Carson, we all left her here too. General O'Neill was the one who suggested she stay, he's been fighting harder than most to keep the search going."

"I'm supposed to protect her Rodney!" John shouted, anger at himself coming to the surface. That was it, all laid out in front of him, in front of Rodney. 

"I know," Rodney said calmly, lowering his voice "But you weren't here, you can't protect her from everything."

"That's the problem," John replied, his own voice calm and thick with emotions he'd spent too long trying to repress. "I wasn't here; I couldn't protect her when it mattered."

- - -

The science team had collected their soil samples and Ronon had tried to ignore their constant attempts to explain. Something about particles in the soil, he really didn't care and he really didn't want to be there. He'd been with the people of earth for almost two years now; he felt more at home than he had since Sateda had been destroyed but he was never going to be able to get used to some of these more boring tasks that seemed to be part of the package. 

He was bored out of his mind as they returned to the gate and then wanted nothing more than to take those thoughts back when all of a sudden they came under fire. One of the scientists was hit straight away, a bullet slammed into the young woman's thigh and she fell to the ground with a cry. Another of the scientists, a slightly more military minded one grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet and supporting her as they continued their run for the gate. 

Bullets continued to fly in their direction, too many coming from too many places and it was almost impossible to avoid them all. The trees around them provided a limited cover as Ronon along with Teyla and John provided cover fire for the retreating scientists. He spotted movement through the leaves and aimed his weapon, firing several shots, he could only hope they'd hit their target because there was no time to stop and make sure. He kept running, firing behind him at every opportunity he got and trying to be aware of the rest of his team. 

He felt the stab of pain in his leg several seconds before it actually caused him to fall. He hit the ground with a thud and immediately turned onto his back. Teyla was by his side before he'd even sat up and he could hear the gunfire continuing as John tried to provide cover. Glancing at Teyla's face he could see the concern there before he turned to his leg. The bullet had hit him just above his ankle and there was a lot of blood seeping out of it. They were almost back at the gate, he could get it seen to once they were back in the safety of the city.

Looking to the side of him, Teyla was already back on her feet firing at the advancing locals and Ronon quickly joined her. They continued toward the gate, Ronon with a slight limp as he forced himself to ignore the pain that shot through his leg with each step. They emerged in the clearing in time to hear the stargate engage and he sensed more than saw the science team go through. 

"Come on," he heard Rodney shout when the three of them struggled to break from the fire fight and make it to the gate. 

A cry of pain then shot through him more painfully than the bullet that had gone through his leg. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Teyla go down and his mind registered the red blood that was already covering her neck and shoulder. He didn't know where she'd been hit but he did know that for there to be so much blood so quickly, it had to be a bad. 

He stopped his cover fire, dropping to Teyla's side and lifting her into his arms in just a few seconds. Rodney had moved forward, picking up the slack in cover left by Ronon as he ran to the gate with Teyla. When he arrived in the gate room there was already a medical team waiting for them, they hurriedly took Teyla from him, placing her on a gurney and rushing her from the room. 

The sound of the stargate shutting down caught his attention and he turned around, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that both John and Rodney had made it through the gate safely. 

- - -

Carson's face said it all as the doctor walked into the briefing room, they'd put off the briefing for over and hour hoping to get word on Teyla but Sam had called them all to the briefing room, telling them she would make it as quick as possible. They'd only been there for ten minutes when Carson joined them.

"How is she?" John asked a trace of nervousness in his tone. 

"The bullet hit her in the neck," he told her and the dark cloud that was hanging over the team seemed to get just a little bit bigger. "The injury appears to have been entirely vascular; there's been no damage to her nerves. She lost a lot of blood though, we're transfusing her now but it's gonna be touch and go."

"Can we see her?" Ronon questioned and Carson hesitated for a moment before nodding his head slowly. 

"Aye, but be prepared," he told them before he left the room and they finished up the debriefing quickly.

The first thing Ronon noticed was how pale she was, the whitish tinge was something he wasn't used to seeing on her usually tanned skin. There were wires all around her, machines beeping away reassuring everyone in the room that she was still alive. It scared him how much it hurt to see her that way.

"Wake up," he whispered so quietly no one would have heard him.

- - -

"I could not have known the hole was there," Taros tried to protest and Elizabeth stifled a laugh at the unfortunate Ancient whose luck did not seem to be getting any better. The memory of his fall during their last hunting trip had become a source of great amusement for her and Malaine both of whom had been present for the incident. 

"Nobody else fell down it and I do remember someone shouting something about looking out for the hole," Elizabeth told him in amusement, the poor man had had fallen down a narrow but very deep hole. It had been just wide enough for a person to fall into it but small enough and covered by enough of the long grass surrounding it that he hadn't seen it. 

"Why do those creatures need to dig such large holes anyway, they are very small and it's such a waste of space," Taros continued and Elizabeth laughed softly as they continued their walk through the village. When they reached the edge of the village they changed their direction, walking along the edge of the tree line rather than venturing into the woods.

"Don't worry," she said quietly "I'm sure everyone will find something else to entertain them sooner or later."

"In the mean time I will have to continue suffering the humiliation," he stated solemnly. 

Elizabeth smiled and then froze when she heard something; it was a faint sound, so distant she could barely hear it. She felt her stomach turn, she had a horrible feeling she knew what the sound was. She heard Taros' questioning voice beside her, could feel his concerned gaze but she ignored it, choosing instead to concentrate on the sound. As it got closer she knew for sure what it was, could easily recognise the sound she'd heard too many times.

A Wraith dart. 

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

**AthosionWarrior – **I feel kinda mean for shooting Teyla but it's important to the Ronon and Teyla storyline. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Kuroima – **I'm sorry I almost made you cry... well a little bit anyway lol. Things do get worse before they get better I'm afraid, thanks for the review.

**Saphire – **I don't know where I find the patience either, I've been tempted to just have them find Elizabeth all the way through lol. Things aren't looking too good for the team are they lol, thanks for the review, hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Too late – **I'm glad you're enjoying the story, thanks for the review.

**Sparkly – **I'm glad you think I'm writing Sam well, I used to write her all the time when I wrote SG1 but I haven't written her for a while now and unfortunately I have a little (and only a little since it's not really her fault) resentment towards her for replacing Lizzie. Thanks for the review; I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter.

**Lia – finn – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked Ronon's last line and the story, Laura will be making her return soon I promise. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Steph – **(hides behind chair) It wasn't that bad a cliff hanger... was it? I'm glad John and Rodney's scene worked out well, I was a little nervous opening the characters up, especially John. I want to hug Ronon too, thanks for the review.

* * *

Chapter 18

Sitting in the chair beside Teyla's bed Ronon could feel sleep trying to invade his body. The painkillers he'd been given were wearing off and the pain in his leg was returning with a vengeance. He did his best to ignore it and his body's cries for sleep, keeping his hand around Teyla's and focusing on the beeps of the machines that were monitoring her. He could see she was getting better, the colour had returned to her face and that reassured him more than anything else. She had yet to open her eyes, yet to move and until she did he had no plans to leave her side.

Their friends had been in and out several times but Ronon was mostly just glad he'd been able to be alone for the most part. He wasn't good at this, wasn't good at revealing to anyone when he was hurting and right now he was hurting more than he had in a long time. It was something he was going to have to face, she'd been lucky today, if that bullet had hit her even a few millimetres from where it had, he would be grieving now as well as hurting. Today had not only been a close call but a wake up call, he could have lost without ever having had her, without ever having told her.

As if sensing his thoughts she moved, it was so subtle he was afraid he had imagined it at first but when she did it again he was on his feet, forgetting for a moment he was in pain, and by her side. He moved his free hand to her face, brushing her hair behind her ear and waiting patiently for her to come around.

She opened her eyes with a small moan and it took her eyes a moment to focus on him. "Ronon?" She questioned and he felt relief flood through him, both at hearing her voice and seeing her eyes open.

"Hey," he replied, his voice unusually thick with emotions taking both him and Teyla by surprise, she looked at him for a moment, appearing to study him even in her barely awake state.

"What happened?" she asked him.

"You got hit in the neck, had us all worried for a little while there," he explained and she moved her hand to her neck finding the white bandage that was still there.

"How is your leg?" she questioned and he bit back a smile, she was laying there, half unconscious with a bullet wound in her neck and she was asking him if he was okay.

"It's fine," he told her as Carson joined them.

"Good to see you finally awake," Carson stated, standing by the side of her bed doing his usual doctorly fussing. "How are you feeling?"

"I have felt better," she informed him and Carson smiled slightly. "My neck hurts."

"I can give you something for that," the doctor told her and she smiled gratefully.

* * *

Darts filled the air, flying backwards and forwards, the light of their transport beams following them. Elizabeth had barely been able to get the warning out before the Wraith had descended on the village. The ground was a chaotic mess, people running in different directions, trying to avoid the transports as they searched for loved ones or simply tried to escape. The unlucky ones disappeared into the light, vanishing, never to be seen again and Elizabeth's stomach turned at the thought of the fate they were being carried to.

She and Taros made their way through the village in search of the other Ancients, they were narrowly missed by several transport beams and Elizabeth had to pull Taros out of the path of one. He gave her a grateful nod but there was no time for them to stop, the darts were not relenting, there was no sign that this culling was nearly over. In front of them they saw a villager, young; probably no older than twenty disappear into a transport beam and Elizabeth sent a silent prayer with him.

If the darts hadn't been bad enough, the Wraith were now in the village as well, probably here for some recreational feeding while their pilots gathered enough food to last them. She grabbed Taros' arm, pulling him in between two nearby buildings and away from the Wraith that had been heading straight for them. She heard several shots from behind them, Wraith stunners firing on the unprepared villagers and maybe just a few of them fighting back. Not that fighting back would do them any good, bows and arrows were no match for the Wraith.

"We must find the others," Taros said quietly, his voice sounding more distressed than when Atlantis had been attacked by replicators.

"This way," Elizabeth replied, heading in the direction of their house, hopefully the other Ancients had not yet gone far. They ran through the fleeing crowd of people toward the door of their house, stopping outside when they found a body only yards from the door. Taros seemed frozen, unable to do anything but stare fearfully at the body. Knowing that their time here was limited, Elizabeth stepped forward turning the man's body onto his back revealing the lifeless eyes of Rinar, the young Ancient had been stabbed in the stomach, his death had probably not been a fast one.

She closed her eyes, taking only a moment to grieve before standing up and turning to a rather distraught looking Taros. "We have to keep moving," she stated and Taros nodded his head, following her away from the house.

It didn't take them long to find Malar and Malaine, the two of them had somehow ended up in the thick of it. Elizabeth saw Malar take a hit, struggling with the Wraith that had chosen him for food and she could see he was losing the battle. She ran toward them, picking up the stunner from the body of a nearby Wraith and firing. She hit the Wraith several times, just as she registered the scream beside her and she turned with her weapon, firing on the Wraith that had attacked Malaine.

She was too late though, she knew even before Taros turned the body over what she was going to see. Her features had been distorted, not as bad as she knew it could be but the feeding had been enough to kill her.

Elizabeth closed her eyes, clutching the weapon in her hands and trying to hold back the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her, now was not the time to fall apart. She had no idea what to do now, they just had to survive, stay alive until the Wraith left but their dwindling numbers made that seem less likely. She wished John was here, whether he would know what to do or not, he'd find a way to keep them all alive. His ability to survive had never ceased to amaze her; he'd been through hell more times than she really cared to think about but somehow he always came back, alive and relatively intact.

The sound of a dart approaching snapped her out of her reverie; she opened her eyes, immediately looking up, trying to find where it was coming from. She spotted it, barely visible against the night sky, heading straight for them. "We need to go," she heard Taros say when he too spotted the approaching threat. The three of them moved away, ducking between some nearby buildings for cover.

* * *

John walked out of the infirmary with Rodney, leaving Ronon alone with Teyla; something had changed between his two friends. He had a feeling he knew what it was, he had seen the same look on Ronon's face he had seen in the mirror a hundred times over the last few months. It was more than just worry for a friend; it was worry for someone who was so close to your heart that losing them was like losing a limb, a piece of yourself. The mere thought of losing them could make it difficult to breath, difficult to do anything but focus on them. It was the fear of losing a chance; of losing something that you wanted more than anything else but had never allowed yourself to have.

He'd felt that, he'd felt it so deeply that sometimes it actually physically hurt. He never should have left Elizabeth here but more than that, he never should have let her go without telling her the truth. 

He could admit it to himself now, a little too late but at least he could be honest with himself if no one else.

He felt for her, he felt for her more than he had felt for anyone or anything else in his life. The one thing he wouldn't do was name that feeling; it would break him, if he admitted that now it could end him. He had to find her but with every failed mission, every day that went by with no sign of her; he could feel his hope failing him and hope was all he had now, if he lost that there would be nothing holding him together.

Returning to his quarters John sat down on the bed with a heavy sigh. The dark cloud that had been looming over the city in the weeks after Elizabeth went missing was disappearing now. People were getting used to her not being here, accepting the idea that maybe she wasn't coming back. He knew that many of them would never completely give up, that some part of them would always hope that she'd return but they were accepting that maybe she wouldn't. John wasn't ready to face that yet, wasn't ready to give up on the search for her even as he relented to the orders from earth.

It didn't matter, no matter what they said, no matter how many missions they sent him on, part of him would always be looking for her.

* * *

The Wraith were gone and the villagers were left to mourn the dead, bodies were already being moved out of the streets. Malaine and Rinar were among them, just two more bodies waiting to be buried. The injured were being cared for as people searched for the missing members of their families, breaking down when they realised they had lost someone to the Wraith.

Walking back into their house felt surreal, there were only three of them left now and it felt... quiet, empty. "We should," Taros began, his voice breaking and he took a moment to fight back emotions they were all feeling. "We should all try to get some sleep, I fear tomorrow is going to be a difficult day."

Elizabeth walked to her room without a word; closing the door behind her she pressed her back against it. She let her body slide down to the floor, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her face in her knees. She finally allowed herself to grieve, for Malaine and Rinar, for Bren, for the Helia and the Ancients who had been killed on Atlantis, for everything her life had been, everything she had lost.

She wished again that John was here though this time she wasn't sure why. She pushed the thought out of her head; it wasn't going to help her to deal with any of this. She needed to move on, to let go of her old life but she just couldn't seem to do it and she had a feeling John was part of that reason. Wishing he was here wasn't going to help her in the slightest, not in any way.

Somehow she managed to push herself off the floor and over to her bed, every muscle in her body ached, she was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. She closed her eyes, immediately assaulted by images of death and memories of the past. Sleep came but it didn't come easily and it wasn't restful.

* * *

When she left the house it was to a different village, a broken one, one that was mourning. She knew straight away that their losses had been big, so many people were missing, the village felt almost like a ghost town in places.

Their first priority was to bury the dead and hold a memorial for those whose bodies weren't here to be buried. She realised then, with a startling clarity, that this was the life she'd ended up with. It was exactly the same as every other inhabitant of the Pegasus galaxy, a simple life that would be lived in constant fear of the Wraith. She felt her mind rebel against the thought almost immediately, refusing to accept it.

They'd already sat through several burials, they had to do them in groups and they were now staring at the coffins that contained the bodies of Malaine and Rinar. It felt too familiar; it hadn't been that long since they'd lost Bren on the hunting party and now this, it was all too much to process.

"So much death," Taros whispered beside her and she turned to look at the elderly Ancient who in that moment looked older than she had ever seen him, the aura of youth he seemed to carry around with him despite his years was gone. She looked back at the coffins; wishing things could be different which she found herself doing too often lately.

"Would anyone like to say anything?" the young villager asked, the poor man had been left with the task of leading the funerals since the man who usually did it had been one of last night's casualties. She watched as Taros stepped forward, she knew he would have felt compelled to say something and she wished she'd known the two Ancients well enough to be able to say something herself. Glancing at Malar she could see him staring at the coffins, an unusual amount of emotion clouding his eyes.

"It has not been long enough since last I did this," Taros stated sadly as Elizabeth looked back at him. "When Bren died it hit the group hard, to lose two more members of our family is hard to bear, perhaps too hard. Rinar was a quiet soul, reserved and observant, he thought before he spoke, saying only what he meant. Malaine was a little more outspoken and perhaps even the strongest of our group; she was a force to be reckoned with. They were both very different but they will be missed equally, we send you on."

Taros moved back to his place between Elizabeth and Malar, the three of them watched as the coffins were lowered into the freshly dug graves. They were some distance outside the village, no where near Bren, there were just too many dead for them all to have been kept close by. It seemed that what the Wraith did not take with them, they destroyed, leaving only a broken community in their wake.

No one said anything as they walked back to the village, there was nothing to say. Elizabeth left the two Ancients as soon as they were back in the village; they probably needed time to grieve alone. Instead she decided to help clean up the village. She walked over to the crop field, knowing that many of them had caught fire during the culling and did her best to help clean up the remains of their crops.

"Elizabeth," she heard someone call and when she looked up she saw one of the village leaders approaching. Amelia was one of the few remaining leaders left, at that moment she reminded her of Taros, old and grey but so tired and haunted that any trace of youth was gone now.

"What can I do for you Amelia?" she asked.

"We'd like you to go off world for us. We have lost too much to the Wraith, our food supplies are low and these fields will be useless to us for some time," she explained "We do not use the stargate very often, our people do not know how to reach a trade agreement but you do."

Elizabeth nodded her head with a small smile "Anything I can do to help."

"Thank you," Amelia said quietly "You do not need to go yet, for now we must focus on repairing the damage to our village. We have enough food to last, in a few days though."

"That's fine, I'll go then," Elizabeth told her, placing a reassuring hand on Amelia's shoulder and the woman smiled sadly before walking away.

If she thought Malar didn't like her before she could be absolutely sure of it now as he paced back and forth ranting. "You silly, arrogant child," he scolded and while normally she would have stopped him right there she decided that after the last 48 hours he probably needed a good rant so she left him to it. "We came here to escape, to hide. We only chose this place because they do not use the stargate, because we would not come into contact with other cultures that could accidentally let it slip that we are here."

"Malar," Taros tried to interrupt, his heart wasn't in it though, he just sounded tired.

"We came here to hide from the Replicators and you just offered to go on a little trip through the stargate. Do you have any idea what could happen if someone finds out who you are, if word somehow got back to the replicators. They would descend upon this planet, prepared to wipe out the last surviving Ancients. You're putting us at risk," he continued to shout and Elizabeth decided that was enough.

"These people need help," she told him but he didn't seem to care.

"You are not allowed to go," he told her and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Excuse me, not allowed?" she questioned.

"That's right, you will tell then you cannot go," he ordered her.

"Let me get one thing straight Malar," she began her own anger too close to the surface. "You do not control me; you have no say in what I can and cannot do. I've put up with your attitude towards me but if you think for one moment that the quiet, reserved Doctor Weir is the only side I have then you better think again and think quickly. Now these people need help, if I can do something then I'm damn well going to do it."

She stared at Malar for several seconds, it felt almost like a battle of wills and Malar finally relented, turning away from her.

"I will join you," Taros stated quietly for which he received a stern glare from Malar. "We will be careful Malar. We won't go to any of Atlantis's allies or anywhere the Replicators may be looking for us. Elizabeth is right though, these people took us in without question, if we can help them now we must."

Without another word Malar stormed out of the room, Elizabeth looked at Taros in time to see the old man go weak. His legs seemed unable to support him for a moment and he reached for the nearby table to steady himself. Elizabeth moved quickly to his side, placing one arm around his shoulders.

"Are you alright?" she questioned worriedly and Taros took a moment before nodding slowly.

"I am fine, I fear recent events have been a little to much for my aging body and for my mind. I think I will get some sleep," he told her, taking hold of her hand for a moment and giving her a reassuring smile. She could only watch him leave the room, feeling more worried than reassured.

* * *

With some reluctance Carson finally released Teyla from the infirmary; just a couple of days there had driven her slightly nuts. Ronon was with her, watching her for any sign that she was about to collapse back into her coma, she'd had to reassure him she was fine a ridiculously large number of times over the past 48 hours.

He followed her into her quarters, placing the few things that she had acquired whilst in the infirmary on her bed. She knew he wanted to say something but for some reason he was holding it back. She'd known from the moment she woke up that something was on his mind.

"Ronon, whatever it is just say it," she instructed, she was too tired to try and continue figuring it out.

"Am I that obvious?" he questioned and she smiled slightly.

"Only to me," she told him and he suddenly looked nervous, that in itself had her worried, the man very rarely looked nervous. "What is it?"

"It's... erm... when you were hurt, it made me realise something," he began and Teyla suddenly had a pretty good idea what he was trying to say, she felt her own nerves tense up in response as she silently waited for him to finish. "You could have died," he breathed and she stepped closer to him, taking his hand in hers to reassure him she was there, alive and safe.

"But I didn't," she told him and he looked at her.

"I'm not good at this," he admitted quietly "Words are not my thing."

"They were more Elizabeth's department, I believe," she stated.

"I'm better at action, just doing things," he began to ramble but Teyla cut him off, placing her fingers on his lips and forestalling any more.

"Than don't say it, do it," she told him and it appeared that was all the sign he needed that what he was going to say would not be met by rejection or humiliation, that it would in fact be welcomed. He leaned forward, touching her lips with his own. The touch was gentle and far too quick for Teyla's liking but it held so much promise. She met his eyes and found the same promise there; she wrapped her arms around him, revelling in the feel of his arms responding. This was where she wanted to be.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

**Saphire – **I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, I feel bad for the villagers and the ancients that I killed. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Sparkly – **I'm sorry if you liked Malaine, I liked her as well and I feel kinda bad for killing her and Rinar. It's just Liz, Taros and Malar now and I'm glad you liked Liz putting Malar in his place, she's been rather quiet and sad through this fic and I wanted to show that she's still as strong as she always was. Thanks for the review.

**Kuroima – **I'm glad I made you cheer and that you liked the Ronon and Teyla scene. Elizabeth putting Malar in his place was my favourite part of the last chapter so write so I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

**AthosionWarrior – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one too.

**Lia-finn – **I'm glad Ronon came across well; I find him the hardest character to write. I know I'm evil but evil makes for good stories lol, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 19

"He's not gonna like this," John stated as he accompanied Ronon and Teyla to the infirmary. It had only been a few days since Teyla's brush with death. She was recovering quickly from it and there didn't seem to be any lasting effects.

His team had yet to return to the search for Elizabeth and the inactivity was slowly driving John insane. He'd requested a mission, anything to keep him occupied but Sam had said no, he'd pestered her about it until she'd agreed to let him and his team do some shopping at an off world market. Now all they had to do was convince Carson to let Teyla go so the unfortunate woman would not be stuck here while they were all shopping.

"I'm not going to like what?" came the familiar Scottish accent they had all come to associate with their good natured but very stubborn doctor.

"Colonel Carter has agreed to allow the team to go to an off world market," Teyla began to explain, a note of hope evident in her voice but Carson cut her off before she could get very far.

"You can't go," he told her abruptly and Teyla opened her mouth to protest but once again Carson beat her to it. "Teyla, love, you were shot in the neck less than 72 hours ago," he emphasised. John though it was kind of unfair to say it in hours, it made it sound much worse than it actually was.

"I feel fine," she stated and when she received incredulously looks from three faces – including those that were on her side – she corrected herself. "I feel well enough to go, it is only shopping, we won't be gone for more than a few hours," she argued but Carson continued to look unsure so John decided it was time for him to intervene on her behalf.

"Carson, we'll keep an eye on her, one of us will be with her at all times and if we think she's overdoing it we'll bring her back," he reassured the doctor who sighed and finally relented.

"I'm holding the two of you personally responsible for her," he told them, giving John and Ronon stern looks. Both men new better than to do anything but nod in acceptance, Teyla on the other hand had said her thanks and high tailed it out of the room before Carson could change his mind. John and Ronon quickly followed her example, finding Teyla stood outside in the corridor waiting for them.

"I should tell Carter we got the okay from the doc," John said turning to leave when he saw the shared look between Ronon and Teyla; they clearly wanted to discuss something they didn't want him to hear. He wasn't stupid, something had been different between them since their return from Athos and in the last few days something had changed dramatically, it had taken him a few hours to put two and two together but he'd figured out what was going on.

He hadn't walked more than a few steps away from them when he stopped and turned around; secrets in a team were never a good thing. It would be best if they were honest with him and him with them, it would be a hell of a lot easier if they knew that he already knew the truth. "Listen guys," he said bringing their attention back to him. "I know and I think it's great, you two both deserve to be happy... just don't feel like you have to hide it... at least not from me and Rodney."

Finishing his slightly stumbled statement he turned and left the corridor, he vaguely heard his two team mats say something about 'that solving that problem' and 'if you don't take it easy today I'll drag you back through the gate myself'. In truth, he wasn't sure how to react to the change in Ronon and Teyla's relationship, he knew it had gone from friendship to something else and he really was happy for them, it just felt weird.

He supposed he'd get used to it; he was getting good at adjusting to changes. He'd adjusted to life on Atlantis, to travelling through the gate and meeting alien cultures on a daily basis. He'd somewhat adjusted to being sent back to earth though that one had never sat particularly well with him. Now he was back on Atlantis, he'd adjusted to being back in the city; he was just struggling with adjusting to the city without Elizabeth. Ronon and Teyla's relationship was just something else to add to the list.

* * *

Teyla was the last member of the team to arrive; Carson was beside her giving her a last minute lecture on taking it easy. She sent an imploring look toward John and Ronon, neither of them made any attempt to intervene knowing that Carson still wasn't happy about letting her go.

"I don't think I have to tell you not to get yourselves in trouble," Sam said as she joined the group in the gate room.

"We'll behave ourselves," John assured her as Ronon and Rodney started bickering beside him.

"And if you feel light headed or nauseous you turn around and head right for the gate," Carson was still lecturing Teyla until a voice interrupted him.

"I think she gets it Carson, leave the poor girl alone," the familiar voice said and Carson turned around to see Laura Cadman walking into the room. John turned to look at Rodney whose mouth 

was hanging open, his face a mixture of shock and dismay which John took far too much amusement from.

"What are you doing here?" Rodney questioned in a slightly high pitched voice. The look on Laura's face told John she was enjoying this as much as he was.

"I transferred back to Atlantis two days ago Rodney," she cheerily informed the scientist. "With a little help from Colonel Sheppard."

"You knew?" Rodney asked accusingly.

"Of course I knew, do you really think I wouldn't be aware of everyone that transfers in and out of Atlantis, especially those in the military," John replied as if that should have been obvious, and really it should have.

"You could have told me she was back," Rodney exclaimed and John really was enjoying this far too much.

"Relax McKay," Laura instructed him. "You won't even know I'm here."

"I find that hard to believe," Rodney muttered under his breath. John decided enough was enough and ordered his team through the already open stargate. Ronon said something to Rodney about his lack of manners as the two men disappeared through the gate and John followed with Teyla.

* * *

If he'd been glaring at them any harder, Elizabeth was sure Malar would have burnt holes into their heads. He'd made it perfectly clear over the last couple of days that not only did he not agree with her decision to help the villagers broker a trade agreement but also that he harboured a very deep dislike of humanity, Elizabeth in particular.

"Thank you again for doing this," Amelia said to her as they stood in front of the event horizon. "Are you sure these people are trust worthy?"

"We had a couple of dealings with them when I was on Atlantis, not enough that they would remember me but enough for me to be sure they'll make a trade agreement and stick to it," she reassured the ageing woman who nodded her head.

"We will see you when you return," Amelia told her and she smiled, glancing briefly at Malar before she stepped through the gate. She emerged in the centre of a busy market, smiling slightly when she saw that it hadn't changed even a little. Taros emerged beside her and the two of them walked into the crowd as the stargate shut down behind them. Neither of them spoke again until they passed the large group that were gathered around one of the stalls, making the market seem busier than it actually was.

"How often did you come here?" Taros asked when he was able to fall in step beside her. He was slightly out of breath and they had only been here for a few minutes. She was worried about him, he was constantly tired and he seemed very fragile, like he'd break if you touched him.

"I only came here once; it was more of a shopping trip than anything else. My people came here probably only a handful of times, one of my teams managed to make a one off trade with the town chiefs. We gave them medicines and they sent several crates full of very nice food," she explained and watched as Taros nodded his head, a curious, thoughtful expression on his face.

"Did you make many trade agreements?" he asked her "When you were on Atlantis."

"We made several, yes," she told him "It was the easiest way to acquire some of the things we needed, especially during our first year when we had no contact with earth."

"From everything I have heard you made many friends in this galaxy in the short time your people were here," he stated and she could hear the hint of a question in his tone but she couldn't figure what it was he was asking. "The Athosians spoke very highly of you all."

"The Athosians were our closest allies here, we helped them move to the mainland after their home was culled by the Wraith, it was the same day we arrived actually. We helped them and they helped us," she explained wondering if that answered his question.

"We did not really have allies, at least not in the sense that you seemed to," Taros stated thoughtfully. "Perhaps that is why my people fell in the end."

"Maybe," Elizabeth replied quietly.

"How did your people survive, there are so many threats in the galaxy now, ones that were not there when the Ancients had last been in control?" he asked her and Elizabeth thought about the question before she answered.

"My people have always had a remarkable ability to survive and many of our best were on the Atlantis expedition. We always found a way, sometimes it was harder than others," she told him, she wasn't entirely sure what it was that had allowed her people to beat the odds so many times. Some of it was pure luck; some of it was skill or genius on someone's part.

"My people obviously lack something that yours have in abundance," Taros stated thoughtfully.

There were several minutes of silence as they approached the large building that had been their destination. "Here we are, this should be it," Elizabeth said as she and Taros took in the large building in front of them. "The town chiefs should be in there."

"Then let us see if we can arrange for a trade for the Krayle," Taros stated and the two of them walked into the building.

* * *

John was about ten seconds away from banging Ronon's and Rodney's heads together, they'd been arguing since before they'd even left Atlantis and it was really getting annoying. The worst part was, he couldn't even remember what they had been bickering about in the first place, they'd changed topic more times than he cared to count.

"We've been here less than an hour McKay," Ronon stated, sounding as irritated with the scientist and John was with the pair of them.

"I'm just saying, I have better things to do than go shopping, that device Major Lorne's team brought back is just sitting in my lab waiting for me," Rodney complained, still trying to make it abundantly clear to everyone that he didn't want to be here.

"Perhaps we should split into groups of two," Teyla suggested and John was quick to nod his head in agreement, anything that would split Ronon and Rodney up for a couple of hours.

"Ronon, go with Teyla, Rodney, with me," he ordered quickly and was about to leave with Rodney when he noticed Teyla had frozen in place.

"John," she said, sounding slightly in shock and a little too fragile for his liking. She pointed ahead of her and he followed both her hand and her gaze through the crowd. It took him a moment to see what she was pointing at, to pick it up through the crowd but when he did he froze much like Teyla. There was no mistaking the green eyes and brown curls that they'd all been searching for, she was right there. "Elizabeth," he heard Teyla shout beside him, glad that she had recovered her senses enough to shout to the now retreating form.

His own senses returned to him in time to see her stop and turn around, she looked through the crowd. There was a look of wariness on her face, as though she was afraid she'd imagined the familiar voice but that soon turned to shock when her eyes finally found Teyla, standing there along with the rest of the team. After all this time, all this searching they had found her when they weren't looking for her.

His legs acted on autopilot, moving through the crowd, brushing his way passed all of the market dwellers who went about their business oblivious to the reunion occurring right in front of them. His eyes never left hers, he was afraid that if he looked away even for a split second she wouldn't be there anymore.

When he finally reached her his body was still acting without any input from his head. His arms went around her immediately, pulling her against him and the part of his brain that was functioning coherently registered her arms going around him. He held her tightly, praying that this was real. Neither of them said anything and he didn't let go of her until he felt someone standing beside them. He reluctantly released her and she turned to look at Rodney whose face was a picture of pure shock.

"How are you here, where have you been, where are the Ancients?" Rodney broke into a tirade of questions but Elizabeth cut him off. Putting her arms around his neck and hugging him. Rodney immediately shut up; he looked awkward at first, as though unsure of what to do but he returned the hug and Elizabeth pulled away too look at Teyla and Ronon who joined them.

Teyla smiled, it was the first real smile that John had seen from the woman since before the Ancients had kicked them off Atlantis. She stepped forward and hugged Elizabeth, releasing her quickly and leaving only Ronon with the job of greeting her. Elizabeth looked a little unsure of herself but Ronon quickly ended that by stepping forward and hugging her, he lifted her of the ground slightly and put her back down again.

With the greetings over Elizabeth stepped back, looking straight at John "How are you here?"

"It's a long story," he told her, finally finding his voice. "We destroyed the replicators that had taken Atlantis, the city's ours again. We've been looking everywhere for you," he told her, unable to keep some of his relief out of his voice, the search was over.

He could tell she had more questions but they were best left until they weren't standing around in a crowded market. "This is Taros," she told them gesturing to the aging man that stood silently behind her and John assumed he was one of the Ancients she had escaped the city with.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Taros greeted extending a hand towards John. He hesitated only for a second before taking it, he couldn't help but resent the Ancients slightly though he knew none of this was really their fault, things could have worked out much worse if they hadn't taken over Atlantis.

John looked at Elizabeth "You ready to come home?" he asked her, she looked at him, stunned and afraid for several moments before she nodded her head.

"Why wasn't the city destroyed, those were the standing orders?" Elizabeth questioned as they made their way toward the stargate.

"Well..." John began "They were going to do that but we err... stole a Jumper and used the intergalactic gate bridge to beat the Deadalus here."

She looked at him both surprised and not by his statement "So your people are now back in control of Atlantis?" Taros questioned and before John could open his mouth to respond, Rodney answered him.

"Yes we are and we're not leaving this time," there was a small amount of anger in the scientist's voice which seemed to take everyone by surprise, Rodney wasn't usually that confrontational.

"I have no intention of taking the city from you," Taros reassured him "There are not enough of us left anyway."

"How many of you escaped?" Ronon asked and John watched as Elizabeth and Taros exchanged a solemn glance. Taros looked at the floor with sad eyes and there was the same emotion behind Elizabeth's voice when she spoke.

"There were six of us, there's only three of us left now," she replied "One was killed in accident a little while ago; the other two were killed a few days ago when the planet we've been staying on was attacked by the Wraith."

John's heart stopped, at least he thought it had, another thing he hadn't been able to protect her from, another thing she should never have had to go through.

"We have to go and get Malar from Krayle," Elizabeth stated and John nodded his head.

"We'll just let Atlantis know and then we'll go and get him," he told her as they arrived back at the gate. Rodney quickly dialled the gate and John radioed Atlantis, waiting impatiently for Sam to respond, there were a lot of people on Atlantis who needed to hear this news.

"Carter here," her voice finally replied.

"We found her," was all he said and there was silence for several moments.

"You found Dr Weir?" Sam questioned needing clarification and John smiled slightly.

"I'm standing right next to her."

TBC


	20. Chapter 20

**AthosionWarrior – **Thanks for the review, hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Sparkly – **Somebody had a little rant there lol, I'm glad you enjoyed the little bit with Laura and I was so relieved to get to the part where they found Lizzie, I'm writing too much non established Sparky at the moment, except in one of my stories. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the last chapter, thanks for the review.

**Fargirl2007 – **I thin I need to write some Sparky love lol, all this non established Sparky is driving me crazy. Thanks for the review; I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Saphire – **Yes, Teyla and Ronon are officially together now and I'm glad you enjoyed the scene with Laura. Everyone seems to like Taros lol, he'd my favourite OC I've ever created but as for what happens to him, you'll just have to wait and find out lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the review.

**Kuroima – **I'm not telling you what I'm doing with Taros but I'm gonna guess you're happy they found Elizabeth lol. There will be a little bit of Carson and Laura coming up, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 20

A million different thoughts ran through John's head as he stepped through the stargate with Elizabeth, Taros and the rest of his team. This was where Elizabeth had been living; this was where she'd been all this time, in this quiet little village exactly the same as a thousand others he had seen throughout this galaxy. He was sure though that it hadn't always looked exactly like this, some of the buildings were partially collapsed due to what was obviously fire damage and the villagers all wore haunted expressions.

Elizabeth and Taros walked straight into the village and John followed with the others. They walked to a building in the centre where they were greeted by several people, Elizabeth stood in front of a greying woman who looked at John and his team curiously before turning to Elizabeth.

"How did it go?" she asked her.

"They're willing to trade and help with whatever you need, they're going to send a representative through the gate tomorrow," Elizabeth told the woman and John had no idea what they were talking about so he just stood there quietly.

"I cannot thank you for this enough Elizabeth," the woman told her and Elizabeth smiled and shook her head.

"No thanks are necessary, you have done a lot for us," Elizabeth stated and then glanced at John "Amelia, these are my people; they found me at the market."

"I thought all your people were killed," Amelia said thoughtfully and Elizabeth shook her head again though this time it was more out of exasperation.

"No, the Ancients were killed, I'm not an Ancient," she informed the young woman for what sounded like it might have been the millionth time.

"Do I take it you will be returning home?" Amelia questioned and Elizabeth nodded.

"Your people have been very good to us, if there's ever anything we can do to you repay you..." Elizabeth began but Amelia cut her off.

"You have already done enough, you and Taros will be missed greatly," Amelia told her and Elizabeth smiled.

"What about Malar?" she asked and the woman returned her smile with an amused one of her own.

"You are taking him with you aren't you?" she asked humorously as though she wanted to be sure.

"If he wants to come," Elizabeth laughed just as another voice interrupted the conversation and from the way everyone's faces fell, John guessed it wasn't a voice they all liked to hear. When he turned to find the source of the voice he saw a man walking towards them.

"What is going on here?" he asked.

"Malar," Taros began "These are the humans from earth, they destroyed the replicators that took over the city and are now back in control, they've come to take us home."

"You'll be returning us to our city then?" Malar questioned and out of the corner of his eye John saw Ronon elbow Rodney when the scientist looked about to say something.

"You'll be coming back with us, yes," John replied, deciding not to point out that the city was theirs now, not the Ancient's.

"Good, about time I could get off this primitive world," Malar stated as he turned and walked down the street.

"Please don't bring him back," Amelia requested of Taros and Elizabeth who both gave her apologetic smiles before taking off after Malar. John and the others followed as they were led to a house not far from the centre of the village, to the place she had been calling home.

* * *

She was still waiting to wake up; still waiting to wake up alone in the bedroom of that house realising this was all just a dream. It wasn't though, they were really here and she was really going back to Atlantis, she was really going home. The stargate stood in front of her already connected to earth, all she had do was step through it.

"Thank you again," Elizabeth said to Amelia, she and a few of the locals had come to see them off at the gate. She and Taros said her goodbyes while Malar stood there impatiently, Rodney and Teyla headed through the gate. Teyla was apparently still suffering from a bullet wound to the neck, Elizabeth had caught a glimpse of it against the woman's skin and she was surprised Carson had let her out of the infirmary never mind Atlantis.

Malar marched through the gate next and Taros did something that looked suspiciously like an eye roll before he followed with Ronon a few steps behind him. Elizabeth continued to stand there, she felt almost frozen to the spot as she stared at the gate. John moved to stand beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder in a silent gesture of support and she realised then how much she had missed his strength which he had always been prepared to lend her.

She took a deep breath and nodded her head before she stepped through the gate. She emerged into the Atlantis gate room and took a second to take in the sight she never thought she'd see again. John emerged from the gate next to her and as she looked around the room she all of the familiar faces that were waiting eagerly for her return. John's team was still stood nearby along with Carson and Laura Cadman. Taros and Malar were standing to the side, Taros looking quite happy while Malar looked completely stoic. Evan Lorne was stood with two members of his team near the door, Chuck and Radek were stood on the control room balcony looking down at her and Sam Carter was standing at the bottom of the stairs. The sound of clapping drew her attention to Lorne and within seconds the rest of the room had joined him and Elizabeth felt completely overwhelmed by it all.

Sam walked over to her and smiled "Welcome home Dr Weir," she said and Elizabeth returned her smile with a smaller one of her own.

"It's good to be back," she replied quietly and as though the woman had understood how overwhelmed she was feeling she gestured for the room to quieten and told them to get back to work, nobody moved though.

"Let's continue this in the infirmary," Sam suggested and Elizabeth followed her out of the room. John's team, Carson and the two Ancients were right behind them.

* * *

"They're not replicators," Carson stated having run all the necessary tests on Elizabeth and the two Ancients. "I'm still waiting on the results of a few tests but they all seem to be fine."

"I could have told you that," Malar stated bitterly having complained all the way through the procedures he'd been forced to endure.

"We had to be sure," Sam told the Ancient.

"I assume you will be handing control of the city over to us now," Malar said.

"No," was John's simple and blunt response and Elizabeth almost had to laugh at the look of shock and annoyance that crossed Malar's face.

"This city belongs to the Ancients, you have no right..." Malar began to protest but it seemed that no one in the room had the patience for him at that moment.

"The city did belong to the Ancients, you've lost it twice now and both times we've been the ones to take control," Sam stated. Malar looked like he was about to offer further protest but this time it was Taros that cut him off.

"The Ancients are gone Malar, we have had our day, now it is theirs," he said which seemed to stun Malar into silence. There was quiet around the room for several moments as no one seemed to know what to say next.

"We have quarters set up for the two of you," Sam told the two Ancients before turning to Elizabeth "Dr Weir, your quarters are waiting for you as well."

Elizabeth watched as Taros and Malar were escorted out of the room by the two young marines who'd been standing in the doorway since they'd arrived. She looked around the infirmary, Carson was now fussing over Teyla's neck and Ronon was standing next to them. Sam excused herself, saying something about letting earth know and Rodney soon followed behind her.

"I'll walk you to your quarters," John offered and Elizabeth nodded her head and slipped off the bed she'd been sitting on. They walked through the corridors in silence; Elizabeth tried to ignore all the looks and whispers she was getting from everyone who saw them.

"How does it feel to be back?" John asked her as they neared her quarters.

"Strange," was the only response she could come up with at that moment, it still hadn't quite hit her yet but she was sure that when it did she'd be feeling a lot more than just strange.

When the doors to her quarters opened she found things almost exactly as she had left them, her clothes were all still in the same place, the file she'd been looking through only hours before the attack was still resting on the chair in the corner of her room. The only difference was that a few of her things were missing, a picture of Sedge was gone but more importantly, the Athosian pot from John and the watch from her father.

"They're in your office," John told her having followed the direction of her gaze.

"My office?" she questioned, that office hadn't been hers for four and a half months now, not since the Ancients had kicked her people out of the city and Helia had claimed the office as her own. It hit her only then that she was back in the place that all of those people, Helia included, had been killed, this was where they had all died.

"I think a few people wanted to make sure everyone knew who the office belonged to," he told her and she felt both touched and overwhelmed by the small gesture. "I can have them brought back here if you like."

"Maybe later," she replied, the office wasn't hers anymore and her things probably shouldn't be in it. She moved to look out the window of her room at the city that she had once called home... and still did really; it was just... taking some adjusting.

"Lizabeth," John said quietly when she was quiet for too long. She'd missed that name, the version that was missing one syllable that only John ever used. "Are you okay?"

"I will be," she stated him after a moment and he seemed to understand the words for what they were, for the memory that they sprang from.

"It's good to have you back; we all... missed you," he told her awkwardly, he wasn't a man who voiced his feelings very often, especially the deeper ones which had the power to cause you pain. She smiled, it was probably the first genuine smile she'd had since she came back here.

"I've missed you too," she replied.

"I should let you get settled," he decided and after a moment where they just seem to stare at each other he turned to leave. He stopped in the doorway turning back to her "I really am glad you're back."

"Me too," she said and he left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Sam couldn't keep the grin from her face as she stood in 'Elizabeth's' office relaying the news to earth. "That's right sir, she and two other Ancients are now safely in Atlantis," she informed General Landry.

"Where were they?" the general asked after a moment of silence.

"We found Dr Weir and one of the Ancients on a market world; they were setting up a trade agreement for the people they had been living with."

"And there are no signs of any Nanites in their blood?" he questioned.

"None, sir, they all seem to be perfectly healthy though we are still waiting on some test results," she told him and there was another moment of silence before she heard the General's voice again.

"I'll inform the President and the IOA that Dr Weir has been found, my guess is they'll want to send a representative through to check everything out," he explained and though she'd known that would happen it still caused a small twinge of anger. Dr Weir had been though enough with out the IOA questioning every decision she'd made both before and after the Ancients had kicked them out of Atlantis. "I'll also let General O'Neill know, I'm sure he'll be very happy."

"Yes sir," was all Sam said she kinda wished she could be the one to tell Jack that Elizabeth was safe and sound on Atlantis; she knew he had something of a sibling relationship with the woman.

"Landry out," she heard the General say and the transmission cut off. She stared at the desk in front of her and the items in it that didn't belong to her. She hoped Earth didn't give them too much trouble, hoped they would allow Elizabeth to have her command back.

This was Elizabeth's home, not hers; she didn't feel as much like she belonged as she did back on earth. Her friends, her family, everything that was important to her was back on Earth and while Atlantis was a great command, it wasn't hers and she'd never feel like it was.

* * *

It was strange to wake up in the familiar surroundings of her room on Atlantis, she'd half expected to wake up this morning and discover yesterday had been a dream; it wouldn't be the first time. She was still here though; in the exact same place she'd fallen asleep. She dragged herself out of bed and 

into her bathroom, her bathroom that she didn't have to share with anyone, didn't have to wait her turn to use.

Her shampoo was still there, the strawberry smelling stuff that she really loved, not like the stuff she'd had to use in the Krayle village. She took great pleasure in washing that smell out of her hair whilst she was showering and then put her own clothes on. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed the little things like being able to wear her own clothes, she'd been forced to leave Atlantis without any of her things and to suddenly have them all back was a lot to take in.

Dressed in clothes that felt both familiar and comfortable to her, Elizabeth stared out of the window at the city. She really was here, she really was home and her people, her team were back in the city where they belonged. She wasn't sure how long she stood there staring out at the familiar view but the sound of the door chime brought her out of her musings. When she opened the door she was surprised to see Colonel Carter standing there.

"Hi, can I come in?" she asked awkwardly and Elizabeth nodded and stepped back. "How are you settling in?"

"Oh you know, I'm settling," she replied and Sam gave her a far too knowing smile.

"Must be weird be back, finding everything exactly as you left it," she said.

"A little," she admitted and there was an awkward silence between them, neither of them seeming to know what to say. Carter had come to her though so she must have had something she wanted to say or ask. "Not to sound rude but I'm sure you didn't come here just to see how I was settling in."

Sam laughed softly and shook her head "No, I came to tell you that I informed earth that we'd found you, they're sending a representative from the IOA to... check everything out."

"So they're actually coming to find a reason why I can't stay on Atlantis," Elizabeth stated and Sam looked at the floor for a moment. "I hear you've been doing a great job with the city," she told her, there was no bitterness, it was a genuine comment.

"I don't wanna be here," Sam admitted and Elizabeth looked at her both confused and surprised. "This isn't my home, no more than that village was yours. My friends and family, everything I care about is on earth. I belong there and you belong here."

Elizabeth was surprised at the openness she was getting from the Colonel who she thinks may be more like herself. She didn't share much of herself with others, at least not easily.

"I have to go," Sam finished and headed toward the door, they opened to reveal John arriving on the other side.

"Well that was good timing," he quipped and then looked cautiously between the two women. Sam nodded to him in acknowledgement and then left leaving John to step silently into her room. "How'd you sleep?" he questioned.

"Better than I have in while," she told him though she admitted to herself that she'd also slept better in the past. There was a moment where he seemed to want to say something but apparently decided against it.

"If you're ready to faces the masses I thought I'd take you to breakfast, the others will all be there," he told her and she hesitated before agreeing. She wasn't quite sure she was ready to face the masses, she may be a diplomat who worked extremely well under pressure but if what happened in the gate room when she'd returned was any indication then she was going to be in the spot light for several days.

They walked through the familiar corridors together and she could almost pretend the last four and half months had never happened. She could almost pretend her people had never been forced from the city, that the replicator attack had never taken place, that she hadn't been living with an alien civilisation for the last three months. Of course the moment she arrived in the cafeteria that illusion – if she had ever bought into it – was shattered.

Everyone turned to look at her and she was immediately bombarded with greetings, questions and smiles. Everyone seemed so pleased to see her, so happy to have her back and all she could was smile and offer the occasional response. She could see John's team sitting at a nearby table along with Carson and Lieutenant Cadman.

John watched her closely, noticing immediately how overwhelmed she was by everyone's enthusiastic response to her. He allowed them a couple of minutes; she was their leader and a friend to most of them but soon decided it was enough. "Alright everyone, let her breathe," it came out like more of an order and it was immediately obeyed by everyone. Elizabeth sent him a grateful look as the two of them moved to sit at the table with the rest of his team.

"Rodney had a nightmare about a giant bunny," Laura stated almost as soon as they'd sat down. Teyla and Ronon both started laughing and Elizabeth couldn't help but smile as Rodney glared at the young woman with an open mouth.

"I never said it was a bunny," Rodney tried to argue.

"Long floppy ears, two big front teeth, hopping as it chased you," Laura repeated what Rodney had obviously described to them earlier. "Sounds like a bunny to me."

The group immediately fell into a debate over whether Rodney was being chased by a bunny and John silently thanked the young Lieutenant for somehow managing to cut through any tension or awkwardness that would quickly have built up at the table before it even had a chance to establish itself.

* * *

"Hello Elizabeth," Taros greeted as he allowed her into his new room on Atlantis. He seemed much more comfortable within the walls of the city than he had been in the village. He seemed to have adjusted to being back home easily, almost like flicking a switch and Elizabeth wished she was finding it so easy.

"Hey," she replied, accepting his invitation and stepping into the room. "How are you?"

"Glad to be home," he told her with a smile "As I am sure you are."

"Yeah," was all she could think to say.

"Adjusting is never easy and with all that you been through I am sure it seems like you'll never feel settled again," he stated and she looked at him curiously.

"How did you get so wise?" she questioned with her own amused smile and he shrugged.

"Old age brings wisdom, it makes up for the dodgy joints," he laughed and she couldn't help but laugh with him. "In all seriousness Elizabeth, you were never happy in that village, nor were you happy here without your people. You have both your city and your family back now and while I'm sure it will take time for you to feel settled again, you should embrace this second chance that you have been given to be happy."

"Have you seen Malar today?" she asked him, changing the subject away from her and though Taros gave her a reproachful look for the manoeuvre he let the subject go.

"Yes I have, I saw him this morning, I believe his opinion of humanity, your people in particular is lower than it was before," he told her, smiling in amusement. "He is just annoyed because he can't have control of the city, he believes this city belongs to the Ancients and only the Ancients, he will have to learn to live in your time."

"Maybe I should go and see him later," she mused.

"If you want to but do not feel obliged to, he was never exactly polite to you," Taros replied.

"Still, it couldn't hurt to show my face and see how he is doing, there's no need to give him more reasons to dislike me," she told him and he nodded his head. "I have to go and do my debriefing," she stated. "It'll probably take a while, I'll see you later."

She left his room and made her way to the briefing room. He was right, this was what she'd wanted, to be back on Atlantis with her people, so why wasn't she happy?

TBC


	21. Chapter 21

**Jammeke – **The talk is coming very soon I promise, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Atlantis Ori Sheppard – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like Taros.

**Saphire – **I don't know where the bunny thing came from, it just kind of wrote itself lol. You'll learn soon why Elizabeth isn't happy even though she's back in Atlantis with her people. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Sparkly – **I'm glad you liked Amelia's line about Malar and as for doing something to Taros (looks shifty, runs and hides). Thanks for the review.

**Kuroima – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the conversation between Amelia and Elizabeth. You'll learn soon why Elizabeth isn't happy; I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Steph – **I'm sure another John hug would help Elizabeth feel better lol, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 21

He was no expert on Ancient physiology but it wasn't really all the different from humans so Carson was fairly sure the results in his hands weren't good. For that reason he'd called Taros to the infirmary and was now standing face to face with the Ancient.

"There was something in your results that had me worried and I'd like to run some more tests," Carson was explaining. The look on the older man's face was almost eerie; it was as though he already knew everything Carson was telling him.

"I am dying," Taros said calmly, as though it was something he went through regularly.

Carson froze for a moment, unsure of how to respond to that. "We can't be sure of..." he began but Taros cut him off.

"I am sure, I have been sure for some time now. There is nothing to be done but I would appreciate it if you could keep this to yourself for now," Taros told him; there was nothing but acceptance in his voice.

"There must be something we can do," Carson tried to protest, the doctor in him wasn't quite ready to admit defeat when it had only just found out there was anything wrong with the man. Until an hour ago he'd thought the Ancient was perfectly healthy.

"There is not," Taros said, his tone leaving no room for further protest.

"Elizabeth will want to know," Carson stated, he wasn't sure what else to say.

"And I will tell her... and Malar, just not yet," Taros replied "Is there anything else?"

"I'd like to run those tests anyway," Carson told him and Taros nodded moving to sit on one of the beds without a word.

* * *

It hadn't taken him long to find her, he knew there were very few places she would go and this was one of the first he'd checked. The balcony where the two of them had always spent so much of their time, where they would stand and talk about whatever was going on at the time. He'd missed their talks out here more than he would ever be able to tell her.

She wasn't standing in her usual spot near the railing though, she was sitting further back watching the rain storm around the city, protected only by the roof of the balcony. They hadn't bothered with the shield for this one; it seemed like a waste of power when it was this mild. She had her legs pulled up to her chest, her back pressed against the wall and a thoughtful look on her face he'd seen too many times over the last three years and not enough over the last five months. He couldn't believe it had only been five months since they had been kicked out of the city by the Ancients, it felt like a life time ago.

He wordlessly sat down next to her mimicking her position and watching the storm with her. Neither of them spoke for several minutes and just as before all of this had started, their people left them alone while they were out here.

Their people... he'd never stopped thinking of the Atlantis expedition as theirs, his and Elizabeth's, even when she was gone, the people, the city, it had always been theirs. He hoped that it would continue to be that way, that when the IOA came they didn't try to take this from her... from them. The IOA had never been particularly secretive about their desire to mess with Atlantis, from the moment they'd got back in contact with earth he and Elizabeth had been forced to fend off the wolves.

"I missed the ocean," Elizabeth finally said, breaking the quiet.

"I'm not surprised, it's your favourite part of the city," he stated and Elizabeth smiled as she looked at him. "How are you settling in?"

"I'm... settling," she replied after a moment to carefully consider the question. John looked at her, a knowing look on his face. "It's strange to be back, it's taking some readjusting, I never thought I'd see the city again... or any of you."

"Teyla says you didn't show up for breakfast this morning," he told her.

"I guess I forgot, I'll apologise to her later," Elizabeth said, seemingly irritated with herself for having forgotten she'd made plans with Teyla that morning.

"It's alright, she's not mad, she was just concerned," John informed her and Elizabeth nodded her head slowly. John studied her, wondering if he should try and pry what was bothering her from her or if this was one of those times where he was better off letting her work it out on her own. "Want to talk about it?" he asked and her thoughtful gaze turned back to the storm.

"I just can't seem to... accept all this, to believe that I'm back, I keep waiting to wake up in the house in the village realising that none of this was real," she told him quietly, as though she was afraid that saying the words might make it happen.

"And if you accept that your back and you wake up... it'll hurt more," he finished for her and she once again nodded her head. He knew how much it took for her to open up to him like that, especially given everything that had happened. His next move surprised them both, he reached out and grabbed her hand, lifting it and holding it where the two of them could stare at it.

He felt an unusual wave of emotions hit him, the simple gesture bringing up feelings he'd denied were there. They both just stared at their entwined hands for a moment, each focused on their own internal thoughts.

"See," John said barely above a whisper. "That feels pretty real to me."

He wasn't sure what he was talking about more, the fact that this wasn't a dream or the feelings that had decided to make themselves known. It wasn't lost on him that he had yet to let go of her hand, nor did he fail to notice that she was still holding his hand as well.

"I missed you," the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could do anything about it and he mentally hit himself. Elizabeth looked slightly surprised but more at the fact that he'd said them than the words themselves.

"I missed you too," she told him, alleviating some of the awkwardness he felt.

"I have to go mediate a disagreement in the science department and by that I mean between Rodney and the entire scientific community of Atlantis," he told her with a small smile which elicited one from her. "Want to come; I could use a diplomat's help."

"Sure," she replied and he stood up, still holding onto her hand and using it to pull her up from the ground. Unfortunately that meant he had to let go of it as they walked back inside.

* * *

Laura watched as Carson pushed his food around the plate with his fork, he'd had his head in the clouds all day and she knew something was bothering him. "You know as a doctor, you ought to know that not eating is bad for you," she stated and he looked at her for a moment before her words seemed to sink into his far away brain and he smiled.

"You're right," he replied shovelling a fork full of food into his mouth and Laura tried not to roll her eyes at him.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong or would like me to guess?" she asked and Carson sighed, he looked like someone had just come along behind him and dropped the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"I want to tell you but I can't," he told her.

"Doctor Patient thing?" she questioned and he nodded his head. "Whatever it is I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Not this time," he said quietly and she looked at him in concern. "Don't worry about it love, let's just have lunch."

She let the subject go knowing that he couldn't tell her anything else but she felt more worried now than she had before she'd said anything.

* * *

As John walked into Rodney's lab he found the scientist reading something on his laptop, oblivious to his presence. He decided however not to scare him this time and simply went and sat down, waiting for the scientist to notice his presence. It was several minutes before the scientist stretched out his hunched over muscles and noticed John sitting there playing with a paper weight.

"How long have you been there?" he questioned.

"Too long," John replied "You're ridiculously oblivious sometimes you know."

"I am not," Rodney argued and John chose not to bother responding to it, instead he went back to playing with the paper weight. "Was there a reason you came here?"

"Nope," John said as he threw the paper weight in the air and caught it again.

"Then why don't you go bother someone else, like Elizabeth, I'm sure she's missed being pestered by you," Rodney suggested and John put the paper weight down to glare at him. "Oh that's right, you're dealing with your feelings."

John looked at the scientist in shocked dismay and resisted the urge to strangle him. "What?" he asked deciding to play dumb.

"I told you I'm not oblivious and I don't have a faulty memory either, Elizabeth being missing hit you harder than anyone else and I think we both know why," Rodney stated bluntly and when John opened his mouth to offer further protest Rodney cut him off. "Don't bother, you can lie to yourself all you want but I'm having a lousy day and since you sided with the Zelenka and the others this morning I'm not inclined to be patient with you, so don't lie to me. You missed her, we all did but you missed her for another reason, figure out what that is."

Rodney returned his attention to his laptop, continuing as though he hadn't just thrown all of John's apparently not so well hidden feeling out into the open for anybody to jump on. He carefully collected them and his thoughts, putting them away to deal with at another time just as Elizabeth walked into the lab.

"Hey," she greeted and Rodney looked up from his laptop.

"Elizabeth," he acknowledged.

"Is he still mad," she asked John when Rodney looked back at his laptop again. John thought about the lecture he'd just gotten.

"Yeah," he replied "I wouldn't recommend baring your soul to him right now."

A look of confusion passed over her face but she shook it off and sat down next to Rodney. John was saved from having to make conversation when Sam requested he and Elizabeth go to the briefing room. He heard Rodney muttering under his breath as the two of them left.

When they walked into the briefing room they found Sam talking to Jack who had obviously just arrived through the gate. "Elizabeth," he greeted with a smile and walked over to hug her which seemed to surprise everyone in the room, including Jack. "It's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back," she replied.

"I have to say you're a hard woman to find when you decide to go into hiding," he stated humorously as they all say down around the table.

"That was more to do with the Ancients than me, we figured either you'd destroyed the city or the replicators were still in control. We didn't want to risk them finding us so we went somewhere they wouldn't think to look for us," Elizabeth explained for the millionth time, though at least this time she didn't sound exasperated by it.

"Well at least we found you in the end."

* * *

Taros walked into his quarters carefully, he felt tired, very tired as though he'd pushed his body beyond its limits when all he'd done was go to the cafeteria for dinner. Perhaps if he slept he would feel better in the morning. He lifted a hand to his head; his skin was warm to the touch, too warm. His muscles ached and he could feel a growing pain his chest which was quickly turning from a dull ache into a sharp pain.

The doors closed behind him, blocking out the rest of the city and the noise that seemed to cause him more pain than it should. He was out of breath, the short walk had left him feeling like he'd just sprinted the entire length of the city and having done that once or twice in his younger days, he knew that was a long way.

Suddenly, the pain in his chest became unbearable and he reached his hand up clutching at the pain as though he'd thought he could actually hold it. His hands tightened around the jacket that covered his chest and it felt too difficult to breath. The edges of his vision were dark and blurring and it was spreading inwards, covering the sight of his quarters until the dark was all he could see.

He felt himself falling and heard the sound of something crashing into the floors when he knocked it over. Then everything went quiet and he felt unconsciousness finally claim him.

TBC


	22. Chapter 22

**Saphire – **I'm glad you liked the Sparky scene and Rodney throwing all John's feelings out into the open. As for Taros, his fate is already sealed, I'm afraid (gives lots of Sparky goodies). Thanks for the review.

**Sparkly – **Rodney's scene was fun to write and I loved writing the balcony scene so I'm glad you liked them. (Runs and hides) Angst makes good storytelling! Thanks for the review.

**Kuroima – **Patience is a virtue lol but I'm glad you enjoyed the balcony scene as well as Carson and Laura's scene. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Steph – **Taros' fate is already sealed I'm afraid. I'm glad you liked the sparky moment and I hope you enjoy this chapter too, thanks for the review.

**Jammeke – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the Sparky scene and Rodney's bit, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Hanna – Karine – **I'm glad you enjoyed the sparky scene in the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this chapter too, thanks for the review.

**Lemons – **Do you mind if I just call you lemons cos that's rather a long name lol. I can't believe you read this fic all at once lol, here's the next chapter to make up for the evil cliffy you got left with after all that reading. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for the review.

**Lia-finn – **Thanks for the review, I figured I always find everything when I stop looking for it so I thought I'd put that in, glad you liked it. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 22

"He's dying," Carson told them and John watched as Elizabeth took a deep breath and reigned in whatever emotions his words had brought up. Malar's face remained as neutral as it always did but John was sure his eyes had betrayed him for a second.

"Is there anything you can do?" Sam asked and Carson shook his head.

"I'm afraid not," the doctor told them solemnly. "From the look of his results I'd say he's been sick for a while. His body seems to be shutting down, the most I can do is keep him comfortable."

"Can we see him?" Elizabeth questioned and Carson smiled sadly and nodded.

"Aye, go ahead," he said gesturing over to the bed "Just don't expect too much."

Elizabeth and Malar walked over to the older man, both of them sitting down by his bed and John moved to stand nearby. He could hear Sam and Carson still talking for a few moments before Sam left the infirmary.

"Hey," Elizabeth greeted Taros who smiled tiredly at her.

"Elizabeth, you did not have to come and see me, I'm sure it's very late," he told her and John felt a pang of sympathy for him. Despite his dislike for the Ancients he couldn't help but like Taros, the older man seemed to have none of the arrogance the rest of his people shared.

"Don't be silly, of course I had to come," Elizabeth told him.

"And Malar, how nice of you to join her," there was a slightly teasing tone in the man's quiet voice which Malar didn't seem to appreciate but since the elderly Ancient was on his death bed the younger man kept his opinions to himself.

"Is there anything we can get you?" Malar chose to ask instead.

"No I have everything I need here, these people have some wonderful... what do you call them? ... Painkillers," Taros replied and Elizabeth smiled and took his hand.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" she asked him and Taros nodded his head slowly.

"I am quite sure."

"There must be something we can do for you," Elizabeth stated, shaking her head.

"There is not," Taros told her, he seemed completely calm. "My time has come; I am very old Elizabeth and very tired."

"I knew there was something wrong," Elizabeth said quietly, annoyance at herself in her voice and Taros smiled again.

"I know you did, you could not have done anything differently, there was nothing that could be done," he told her firmly and then leaned his head back into the pillow with a heavy sigh. "I think perhaps I will sleep now, you should go and do the same."

"I'll come back in the morning," Elizabeth told Taros, leaning down and dropping a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Ah, I knew you liked me," he said humorously and Elizabeth laughed softly.

"How could I not," she teased as she squeezed his hand and left, Malar followed her out and John was about to leave as well when Taros called him back.

"Colonel Sheppard, please, come and sit for a moment," he requested and John did so, taking the seat Elizabeth had been sitting in a moment ago.

"I'm afraid I do not have much time left," Taros stated and John sat quietly, unsure what to say or even why Taros wanted to speak to him. "Elizabeth missed this city and her people very much but... she missed you most of all."

Still unsure what he was supposed to say to that, John opted to keep quiet. "It is very obvious that she cares for you deeply, more than she wants to I think. I do not know you but in these last few days I have seen you with her and I believe that you too care very deeply for her. You have both been given a second chance, do not waste it, you may not get another."

And still, he had no idea what to say so once again he said nothing. "Good night Colonel Sheppard."

John took that as his dismissal and left the infirmary, his thoughts running through his head so fast he could barely grab onto one. The old man was right about one thing, he did care for Elizabeth, the last few months had made that abundantly clear to him. He just wasn't sure what to do about it.

* * *

Her quiet breathing was the only sound in the otherwise silent room, her eyes were closed and her body completely relaxed. She had not meditated in a long time, too long, her focus had been all over the place and she had not been able to quiet her mind for more than a few seconds. With Elizabeth now safely back on Atlantis, her neck injury healing and her confusion over her relationship with Ronon a thing of the past, her mind was clear enough that she could focus.

She breathed in and out rhythmically and she could feel the affect it was having on her mind and body already. She felt more relaxed than she had in months; the stress of everything that had happened left her a little bit at a time with each breath.

She heard the doors open and ignored the intrusion into her silence however she could no longer ignore the new comer when he knelt down beside, silently staring at her. She opened her eyes, turning her head to the side to meet Ronon's amused gaze. "Hey," he said and she smiled and shook her head.

"You are distracting me," she told him.

"I know," he replied and she laughed softly, closing her eyes and resuming her previous position. Ronon however didn't move and she let out an exasperated sigh and turned to look at him again.

"Is there a reason you came to see me?" she asked.

"Do I need one?" he questioned back.

"I suppose not," she replied and he sat down on the floor beside her, crossing her legs and mimicking her position.

"Alright, how do I do this thing?" he asked and Teyla looked at him incredulously.

"You want to meditate?" she questioned and he shrugged. "I do not believe you have the patience."

"Never could sit still for very long," he agreed and Teyla gave up on any notion of being able to meditate.

"Perhaps we should just go and get something to eat," she suggested and Ronon shrugged again, standing up and offering her his hand.

* * *

Jack found Sam in her office, sitting behind the desk with a report in her hands. Her eyes scanning the page quickly and he figured she was only skimming through it. "Anything interesting?" he questioned as he entered the office and sat down. A weird thought entered his mind and he 

wondered how many times John and Elizabeth had been in these exact positions. He knew how close the two of them were and the Atlantis rumour mill was always a great source of information.

"Just Major Lorne's report from the mission his team returned from two days ago," she told him and put the paperwork on the desk.

"I thought you might wanna know, the IOA are sending a representative through at the end of the week," he informed her and watched her sigh and lean back in her chair.

"Is that really necessary?" she questioned.

"They said they want to make sure everything is still running smoothly here and see how Elizabeth's coping," he explained and she shook her head.

"Translation, they want to see if they can get Elizabeth transferred back to earth and have someone they have more control over in charge of the city," Sam said bitterly.

"Hope you weren't talking about yourself there Carter, since when does anyone have control over you?" he questioned.

"I'm military, I follow orders," she replied.

"Not when you don't agree with them, I remember SG1 having a problem with not always doing as they were told. In fact I remember a couple of times we got ourselves dangerously close to being court martialled," he said with a thoughtful look on his face as he thought back to all the times he and his team had done the exact opposite of what they were told to do.

"Do you think they'll let Elizabeth have the city back?" Sam questioned, breaking into his reminiscing.

"I don't know, the truth is they've wanted one of their own in control of Atlantis for a while now, this may be just the excuse they need," Jack replied and Sam sighed again.

"This isn't right, she's been through enough, they all have," Sam said tiredly and Jack got the feeling this whole thing had been weighing heavily on her for a while. He'd known this wouldn't be an easy job when he'd asked her to do it but she'd handled it well.

"You've done a good job here, better than anyone could have expected," he told her feeling that she deserved to know.

"Thank you."

* * *

Why did it seem like every time she was starting to feel settled something came along to turn her life upside down again. She'd finally been feeling at home again, finally starting to feel as though she could allow herself to settle back into life on Atlantis and now this. Taros had been her only constant over the last few months, he'd kept her grounded and she wasn't entirely sure she and her sanity would have survived everything that had happened if he hadn't been there.

Now she was finally at home, finally back with her people and the elderly Ancient was dying. He seemed so calm about it; he'd just accepted that this was his fate just as he had when they'd been driven from Atlantis. She wished she could do that, she wished she could so easily accept change but she couldn't and this change was too much to handle. Her entire life had become a rollercoaster, one that she wanted to get off.

The door chime called to her through her thoughts and she walked over, opening the doors to reveal John. "Hey," he greeted and she did her best to give him a small smile as she stepped back and allowed him into the room. "How are you?"

"I've been better," she replied honestly, not having the energy to make up a lie neither of them would have believed anyway.

"How's Taros?"

"Eerily calm and still trying to give me advice," she told him, smiling fondly at the thought of the old man who even on his death bed had been dispensing advice to all who would listen. The man had a knack for knowing things about people that they weren't even aware they showed. "Carson says he only has a few days left. I've only known him for five months but already the thought of not having him around seems... unimaginable."

She could hear the sadness creeping into her tone, her voice was thick with emotions she'd had every intention of holding back but she was losing the energy to even try. "I have to admit, the guy makes an impression," John replied sadly.

"He's been a rock, he doesn't deserve this," Elizabeth stated, her emotions were completely out in the open and though part of her wanted to gather them all up and hide them again, the bigger part of her didn't have it in her to care. This was John after all and if she couldn't trust him with moments like this, then really who could she trust.

She wasn't even sure who was surprised more by John's next move though she was fairly sure it was him. He stepped toward her, pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her. She responded almost immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on as though he was a life raft. It felt like her whole world was spinning out of control and she something to hold onto, this time it was her who surprised them, pulling back from the embrace just far enough to crash her lips against his.

His surprise only lasted a second, he kissed her back and there was desperation in the kiss that increased her own. His hands moved down her back, finding the hem of her shirt and lifting it enough that he could run his hands over her skin. The contact made her crave more, her own hands found his shirt, undoing the buttons as he broke the kiss, moving his lips along her jaw.

The black material of his shirt soon found the floor along with her own top and John moved his lips back to hers. He manoeuvred them toward the bed, laying them both down without breaking contact. There was a voice in her head telling her this was wrong, that she should end it now but the bigger part of her knew they were already way beyond the point of no return. As if sensing her thoughts John broke the kiss, staring down at her with a questioning gaze.

"Lizabeth?" he questioned, she knew what he was asking, he needed to be sure this was what she wanted and though she could still hear the voice in the back of her head she chose to ignore it. Unable to find the words to reassure him she pulled his lips back against hers in answer to his question. In truth, she didn't want to end it and as their pants joined the clothes already on the floor the nagging voice was silenced.

TBC


	23. Chapter 23

**Sparkly – **I'm glad you liked the sparky in the last chapter, I'm glad I could finally write some serious sparky, I'm writing too much not established at the moment lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Lemons – **I'm a firm believer that good things come to those who wait lol and I'm glad you enjoyed the huge amount of sparky in the last chapter. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Sotherngt – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Bite Beccy – **I'm glad you liked the sparky and I'm sorry for almost making you cry twice, unfortunately this chapter is not going to be much better. Thanks for the review; I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Kuroima – **People seemed to like the last part of that chapter lol, can't imagine why lol. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter; I hope you enjoy this one too, thanks for the review.

**Steph – **How can you be leaving me a review if you're not talking to me lol, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Saphire – **I'm glad you liked the conversation between Taros and John as well as the little Ronon and Teyla scene. It's good to know the sparky scene turned out well, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Lia-finn – **Sam has been a tough character to write which is weird since I used to be good at her lol. I'm glad she's coming across well and that you liked the final scene, thanks for the review.

* * *

Chapter 23

Three days had passed since he'd collapsed in his room and been brought to the infirmary, three days he'd clung to life even as he could feel it leaving his body a little bit at a time. He had to be sure that the people he was leaving behind, Elizabeth and Malar, were going to be okay. Malar was struggling to accept his new place in life but Taros felt certain that he would eventually learn to adjust. It was Elizabeth he was most worried about, she was a strong woman but everyone had their breaking point and she had endured so much already. Now she stood beside him, clutching his hand, her eyes betraying the fact that she was fighting a battle to hold back tears. Colonel Sheppard was stood besides her, lending her his support, his strength and he knew that she would be okay, that these people would make sure of it.

He had nothing left to give now, no strength left to hold him here and he finally felt that he was ready to let go. This was his time, he'd lived a long and full life, had been privileged enough to see this future, to meet these people. Somehow he pulled together enough of his energy to speak, knowing these would be his final words.

"Dr Beckett, thank you for everything you have done," he said quietly, feeling that the doctor wished he could have done more for him than stand by and watch him slip away.

"Aye," the doctor replied solemnly.

"Malar," he began, breathing as deeply as his failing lungs would allow him to. "You are a good man; do not let your arrogance cloud over that."

Malar didn't say anything only nodded his head but Taros knew the words would sink in later; it was up to him whether he chose to act on them.

"And Elizabeth," he continued "You are such a bright star in this galaxy," he told her affectionately, he'd grown very fond of the young woman, she seemed to embody all of humanity's best traits. "I know you have been through much recently but you are stronger than I think even you realise and you are surrounded by these wonderful people, believe in that, believe in them, and don't ever change."

He pushed back the wave of pain that overcame him, fighting to stay in this world just a little longer, just until he'd said what he had to say. He looked around the room, at Malar, at Elizabeth and Colonel Sheppard, at Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex, at Dr McKay, Dr Becket and even Colonel Carter who was stood in the background.

"All of you are such wonderful people, I feel privileged to have known you. You are all strong, caring people and as a group... you are unstoppable. You will all be so important to shaping the future of this galaxy and I can think of no better people than those standing in this room to do that," he told them all, pleased that the words had come out uninterrupted by the cold he could feel trying to take him.

Elizabeth tightened her hold on his hand and Malar put a hand on his shoulder. He struggled to draw his next few breaths, his body momentarily tried to protest and his mind took a moment to rebel against the knowledge that he was about die. His last breath was filled with pain and it was a relief when the pain faded, taking the world with it.

* * *

John found her on the balcony staring out at the ocean, exactly where he'd expected her to be. He walked up behind her, putting his arms around her waist and she tensed up for a moment before relaxing against him. Neither of them were used to this yet, this change to their relationship.

"I miss him already," she whispered as she leaned her head back on his shoulder.

"Yeah, it's funny, so do I and I didn't really even know the man," he told her and she smiled slightly. He knew how much Taros' death was hurting her and to make matters worse the IOA representative was about to arrive. Taros had only died that morning and she already had to deal with the IOA, though both Jack and Sam had told her she didn't need to be there for his arrival. She'd have to show her face, be polite and meet the guy but fortunately she wouldn't have to sit through his questioning until tomorrow, at least she'd have some time to grieve.

"How long until the IOA get here?" she asked as though she'd been reading his mind and John rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Should be any minute now," he told her and she sighed, she knew as well as he did that this was not going to be a friendly visit, she was going to have to fight for this city.

"You know that once they get here..." she began but trailed off.

He kissed her neck, tightening his arms around her waist. "I know, the last thing we need is the IOA finding out about 'us' right now."

They both stood there silently for several minutes, enjoying these last few moments where they didn't have to worry about the IOA seeing them. They heard the doors behind them open and John dropped his arms from around her waist as Elizabeth stood up straight.

"The IOA representative is here," they heard Rodney say and John turned around just in time to see the scientist retreating back through the door.

"Guess we should head inside," John said reluctantly, wishing he could stretch this moment on longer, hold them both here where nothing could touch them. Elizabeth nodded her head, moving to walk passed him but John grabbed her hand as she did so. She stopped, turning to look at him and he poured all the reassurance he could find into his gaze. She nodded her head again and took a deep breath as the two of them headed back into the city.

They went immediately to Sam's office where they could see Sam and Jack deep in conversation with a man whose back was to them. When they entered the room three sets of eyes turned to them.

"Dr Weir, Colonel Sheppard, this is Dr Mathews from the IOA," Sam introduced. The man was probably in his late forties, maybe early fifties; he had hard brown eyes that gave away nothing, no feelings, no thoughts, nothing. His gaze swept over Elizabeth, judging her before he extended his hand to her. Elizabeth took it without hesitation and John could clearly see the diplomat in place now, the woman who dealt with men like him everyday.

This was going to be a long few days.

* * *

"And that was where Colonel Sheppard and his team found you?" Dr Mathews questioned and Elizabeth nodded. She'd had to explain in ridiculous detail everything that had happened between rescuing the Ancients and that minute she'd walked into the briefing room today.

"Yes, they found me as Taros and I were leaving our negotiations," she replied.

"Taros being the Ancient that died yesterday?" Mathews said questioningly. Elizabeth felt an unwanted wave of emotions hit her; Taros' death was still a raw nerve for her. She glanced at Jack and Sam who were both sitting at the briefing table along with her and 'the rapidly becoming annoying' Dr Mathews. Neither of them looked particularly pleased by the last question and the cavalier, off hand way it had been said but they both kept quiet.

"Yes," was all the reply she could manage to give to the question. Mathews wrote something down on the paper, judging expression firmly in place as it had been for the last few hours.

"You've been around a lot of death recently," Mathews stated and Elizabeth stared at him, keeping everything she was feeling hidden behind a mask of calm. "It was you and your people that originally re-programmed the replicators, opening the doors for them to do it themselves. So, would that not make you indirectly responsible for the Asurans re-writing their programming and killing the Ancients?"

In all honesty she'd expected that question or something like it to come up at some point. "At the time it seemed like the only way to stop them but we have no way of knowing whether it was us that opened the door for them or not, it's entirely possible they would have found a way to change their base codes on their own."

"You're very close to some of the people here in Atlantis, Colonel Sheppard and his team among others?" Mathews asked.

"That's true," Elizabeth replied, there was no shame in that.

"So you must be glad that they weren't the ones here when the replicators attacked, that it was the Ancients in control of Atlantis instead?" he questioned and a flash of anger went through Elizabeth, both because of the question and because it was true.

"I'm glad they're not dead but I'm not glad the Ancients died in their place," Elizabeth replied, choosing her words carefully and forcing herself to remain calm. After everything that had happened over the last five months and Taros' death only yesterday, Elizabeth felt like a bomb waiting to go off, all she needed was something to trigger her off and she was fast approaching the limits of what she could handle.

"Come on Dr Weir, if the Ancients hadn't kicked your people out of the city then it would have been your friends that had been slaughtered instead of the Ancients, surely some part of you is glad that things happened the way they did," Mathews continued and Elizabeth felt something snap inside her. She opened her mouth to say something she knew she was going to regret later but fortunately Sam cut her off.

"Why don't we take a break, we've been here for almost three hours," Sam suggested "Unless of course that concludes your questioning Dr Mathews and we won't need to meet later," she added turning to Mathews.

The doctor stared at Sam for a moment "Actually, I have..." he began.

"Good, so if we're all done here we can finally go for lunch," Jack stated cheerfully but there was an undertone of seriousness to his voice and a slight warning.

"Very well then," Mathews said after a moment as he gathered up his papers and finally left the room.

* * *

John had spent most of the afternoon loitering outside the briefing room wishing he could be inside with Elizabeth and the others. He'd only gone to get something to eat, he'd barely been gone twenty 

minutes and he'd missed the end of the meeting. Dr Mathews and Elizabeth had already left when he'd got back, Jack and Sam had still been in the briefing room talking.

John had quickly checked the balcony but Elizabeth hadn't been there so he headed to the next obvious place, her room. It had taken her a minute to answer and he'd taken a moment to study her, she seemed fine. She seemed too fine actually, considering a close friend had died yesterday and she's spent the last few hours being questioned by a man who was probably just looking for a reason to replace her.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked as she stepped back to let him into the room.

"It could have gone better," she replied and John got the distinct impression that she was just being nice. He looked at her expectantly and she stared at him for a moment before relenting and explaining further. "He was trying to push my buttons... and he did."

"What do you mean?" he questioned and she sighed as she sat down on the edge of her bed.

"He was asking things with the sole purpose of getting a reaction from me and I would have given him one if Colonel Carter hadn't stepped in," she told him, sounding annoyed with herself for rising to the bait Mathews had obviously been dangling in front of her. John found himself wanting to hurt the man, maybe dial the nearest Wraith occupied world and let the man loose there for a few hours, see how well he dealt with types of situations the people here faced on a daily basis. He was fairly sure Mathews, who had probably never faced anything truly dangerous and terrifying in his life would come out with emotional scars that made those gathered up by the expedition look like nothing.

"I shouldn't have let him get to me like that, I've made a career out of dealing with people like him, he shouldn't have been able to push my buttons that easily," Elizabeth continued getting more and more frustrated with herself.

"With everything that's going on it's understandable that you're a little off your game," he tried to tell her.

"No, it's not," she argued.

"Elizabeth," John began sitting next to her on the bed. "Your entire expedition team was kicked out of the city leaving you alone with the Ancients who were all killed when the Replicators attacked the city. You escaped the city and spent over three months living in a little farming village on an alien world where you lost three of the five ancients that escaped the city with you. Two of them were killed in a Wraith culling shortly before you discovered your people were back in the city. Yesterday the person you've been closest to through all of that died and now you're having to deal with the IOA," John summed up everything that had happened to her in the last five months, it sounded a lot worse when you strung it all together like that. "You're allowed to be a little stressed."

"The problem is the IOA won't see it that way," she said quietly, sighing again and leaning her head on his shoulder. John dropped a kiss on her head, taking her hand in his and they both stayed that way for several minutes until John's radio called for his attention. He tapped the ear piece and let Rodney ramble on about an experiment and his need of John's Ancient gene. He was tempted to tell 

the scientist to find Lorne or Carson but figured he'd go help the scientist and drag Elizabeth with him, something to do would hopefully help get her mind off the IOA.

* * *

Malar walked down the corridor sending mild glares at the humans that passed him. They were walking around the city as though they owned the place, they didn't, this place belonged to his people and since he was all that was left of them it belonged to him.

"Mr Malar," a voice shouted and Malar stopped turning to see the annoying man that had come through the gate from earth heading toward him.

"Dr Mathews," he acknowledged putting just enough irritation into his voice to ensure the man knew he didn't like him.

"I'd just like to ask you a few questions," Mathews told him; Malar had spent the last couple of days refusing to sit down and be questioned by him. "It will only take a moment of your time."

"A moment too many," Malar replied and turned to walk away. Mathews stopped him, putting a hand on his arm which Malar moved away from and looked at Mathews. "What are these questions?"

"How are you settling back into Atlantis?" he asked.

"Fine."

"How are you getting along with the expedition members?"

"I don't socialise with them," Malar told him, keeping his answers as short and uninformative as possible.

"But when you do speak to them?"

"I've had no problems."

"You've spent the last few months with Dr Weir, what is your opinion of her?" Mathews asked, finally getting to the point. Malar actually thought about this answer, he didn't like Elizabeth but he had to admit, to himself at least, that the woman was probably one of the more competent humans he'd encountered. If Atlantis had to be controlled by these primitive beings he would rather it was her than someone like Dr Mathews in charge.

"Dr Weir is a very competent woman," he answered, it was as close to complimenting a human as he was ever going to get. "If you'll excuse me."

Malar walked away before Mathews could offer further protest of ask any more questions. He really didn't like humans.

* * *

The ocean was calm which seemed to be in such sharp contrast to her life, everything felt like it was spinning out of control. Elizabeth took a deep breath of ocean air, remembering once again how 

much she'd missed it, how much she'd missed this balcony. The doors opened behind her and she knew immediately it wasn't John. She wasn't sure how she knew that but she knew.

She turned around seeing Jack walking to where she was stood by the railing. He stood there silently, staring at the ocean she so often tried to lose herself in. "I can see why you and Sheppard like it out here," he stated without looking at her.

"My favourite part of the city," she replied and Jack nodded.

"You've had an interesting few months," Jack said turning his gaze to her. "And they seem to be getting more interesting still."

There was a knowing tone to his voice that made Elizabeth slightly nervous. "The IOA do like to keep things interesting," she commented hoping he'd let whatever it was he knew drop, this was Jack however so no such luck.

"I think we both know what I'm talking about," Jack told her pointedly and Elizabeth looked down at the floor before looking back out at the ocean. "Sheppard's a good guy; he never gave up looking for you."

"He doesn't like to leave anyone out there, he's never stopped looking for Ford either, not really," she stated and Jack shook his head.

"Will you stop trying to talk around me," he said and Elizabeth finally met his gaze again. "Your secret's safe with me and you're right to keep it quiet, at least until the IOA are off your back."

"Thank you," Elizabeth replied not bothering to deny it anymore, she hadn't exactly admitted it either.

"As for Mathews, I don't think he'll be here much longer, another few days at the most," he assured her and there was a moment's silence before he spoke again. "I'm glad you're back."

Elizabeth nodded her head and they both stood there, staring into the distance. A few more days and Dr Mathews would have decided her fate, she'd know whether she was staying here in Atlantis or if he was sending her back to earth, she prayed for the former.

* * *

"She's unfit for command," Mathews repeated for the tenth time as the argument continued. He'd requested to see John, Jack and Sam to reveal his decision regarding Elizabeth which hadn't gone down well with anyone in the room.

"In what way is she unfit to command this city?" John questioned, his annoyance rising.

"She's still recovering from the emotional trauma of the last few months, she's short tempered and in all honesty her mental state is not looking good, it's entirely possible that she'll further deteriorate and we can't afford to have that happen in a crisis," Mathews explained.

"You're not a psychiatrist," Jack protested "Dr Heightmeyer has seen Elizabeth several times since she returned last week and if you bothered to read her report you'd know that she said Elizabeth was fine."

"Dr Heightmeyer is also a friend of Elizabeth's," Mathews continued.

"Are you saying she'd lie?" Sam asked her own annoyance becoming more obvious the longer this discussion went on.

"No, only that her opinion is biased," Mathews told them. "But even she said that Elizabeth will require a few more sessions with her."

"After everything she's been through, I'd be more worried if she didn't require a few sessions with a shrink," Jack stated.

"Still, it calls into question her mental state and as I've already said, we can't afford for her to mess up during a crisis," Mathews argument was getting kind of repetitive now.

"Dr Mathews," Sam began. "I've been in charge of Atlantis since Dr Weir's disappearance and I can tell you the city functions much better with her here. If you want the city functioning to its full capability you'll put Dr Weir back in charge. It doesn't have to be right away, it can wait until she's fully recovered but no one knows this city or its people better than she does."

John was rather impressed by Sam's argument and any doubt left in his mind about the Colonel and Jack's decision to bring her here was banished in an instant. From the look on Mathew's face he had been impressed as well and for several tense, awkward moments there was silence throughout the room.

"Very well, I am willing to give it six weeks, if she is capable of resuming command then she will be allowed to do so however if she isn't we will transfer her back to earth and have someone take command of the city on a permanent basis," Mathews compromised and once again there was silence around the room as everyone figured out whether they liked the idea or not. It was the best they were going to get though and if they continued to fight they might end up going backwards.

"That sounds reasonable," Jack agreed.

"I shall be returning to earth within the hour," Mathews told them and then left the room.

"Sheppard," Jack said "Perhaps you would like to go and inform Elizabeth since the good Dr decided not to invite her to this little meeting."

John nodded and left, tapping his ear piece to contact Elizabeth and find out where she was. Her voice told him she was in her quarters and he made his way there. She looked slightly nervous when she opened the door and he figured she must have found out about the meeting.

"What did Mathews want?" she asked him as she stepped back to let him into the room, nothing like getting straight to the point.

"He reached a decision... about you," John told her and she looked at him expectantly, nervously. "You're staying in Atlantis, you have six weeks to recover from everything that's happened and if they feel you're up to it then, you'll be given the city back."

"The four of you were in the office for ages, what took so long?" she questioned, nervousness still not gone.

John hesitated a moment before replying "Mathews had actually ruled you unfit for command, you were supposed to go back to earth in the next few days, we changed his mind, actually it was mostly Carter."

Elizabeth nodded her head slowly "But I'm staying for now?" she questioned.

"If we have anything to say about it," he began, and by 'we' he really meant the majority of people in Atlantis. "You'll be staying for good."

TBC


	24. Chapter 24

**Lemons – **Ronon can be very intimidating but I think Jack, Sam and John are persuasive enough by themselves lol. I'm glad you think I handled Taros' death well, I was kinda nervous about that scene cos everyone seemed to like him. The story won't encompass those six weeks, something else happens but the next chapter is actually the last. Thanks for the review!

**Sparkly – **I knew everyone was gonna be upset with me for killing Taros lol, is your sister even speaking to me lol? I don't really like Mathews either but I guess that's the way I wrote him, next chapter is the last one, kinda sad really. I hope you enjoy this one and thanks for the review.

**Anonymous – **Sorry but you didn't leave a name on the review lol. Everyone seemed to like Taros and I knew people were gonna be upset but angst makes good story telling. Thanks for the review.

**Atlantis Ori Sheppard – **Thanks for the review, Elizabeth gets to stay in the city for now and I feel bad for killing Taros but angst makes good story telling. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Bite Beccy – **I'm glad Malar made you laugh, it was about time the man did something nice lol. Next chapter is the last one; I hope you enjoy this one and thanks for the review.

**Kuroima – **I'm sorry I made you cry... a little anyway lol. The next chapter will be the last one, it's kinda sad to see the story end, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 24

Teyla ducked to avoid the bantos rod that was making its way toward her head, she quickly stood up straight again, taking a step back to put a safe amount of distance between her and Ronon. They circled each other for what felt like forever, both of them watching the other intently. She swung for him, stepping forward and connecting the stick in her hand with Ronon's chest. He let out a small grunt of pain and stepped back from her. She swung for him again, aiming for his hand and knocking his only weapon out of it.

Before he had time to recover from that blow she kicked the back of his knees and he dropped to the ground where she placed one of her own bantos rods around his neck and he brought his hands up in surrender.

She released him, stepping back and moving her neck in a circle, the bullet wound in her neck had almost healed now but it still felt it necessary to become very painful every now and again, just to remind her it was still there. She hadn't sparred much in the last few weeks, the bullet wound preventing her from being able to fight Ronon at all and to her annoyance it was really showing too. She might have won that fight but her technique was sloppy, her movements were slower and her balance was off slightly.

"You were going easy on me," Teyla stated breathlessly.

"It's the first time we've sparred since you were shot three weeks ago," he reminded her "I didn't want to hurt you."

Though she knew she should be slightly mad at him she couldn't find it in herself, he was probably right anyway. Had he not gone easy on her she would have lost that fight very quickly. "I've missed sparring with you."

"Yeah, I had to stick to kicking Sheppard's ass," Ronon replied and Teyla laughed softly.

"Elizabeth said he had more bruises than usual," Teyla informed him.

"She'd know," Ronon commented and Teyla laughed again, she was fairly sure the two leaders had no idea that both she and Ronon new about their relationship, for obvious reasons they were keeping it quiet for now and despite John having confronted Ronon and Teyla with the knowledge of their relationship, they both felt that the two of them would be more comfortable if they thought his team hadn't noticed.

Elizabeth seemed to be much happier; the last three weeks had been calm and easy for everyone on Atlantis, except maybe for Malar who was still fuming about being in a city full of humans. Other than the annoying Ancient constantly skulking around the city muttering to himself, life had been... pleasant recently. It was only another three weeks until Mathews returned to decide Elizabeth's fate once and for all, the thought made her nervous but there was really nothing she could do so she kept it at the back of her mind.

Teyla moved over to where her gym bag was, pulling out the bottle of water and taking a long drink before she put it back. She reached a hand up to her neck, running her hand over the slowly fading bullet wound there. "Neck hurting?" Ronon questioned, walking up behind her and putting an arm around her waist.

Teyla nodded "A little."

Ronon ran the fingers of his free hand over the still angry red mark, he leant down and kissed it "Come on, we'll get your pain killers."

* * *

"And how about the nightmares?" Kate questioned and Elizabeth shifted on the couch to get more comfortable, she'd gone through a dozen of these sessions since she got back to Atlantis just over three weeks ago. They weren't as bad as she'd been expecting them to be, Kate had been extremely pleasant to talk to, there'd been no judging expression on her face and if she was honest with herself, talking about everything – even the things she didn't want to talk about – had helped a lot.

"Gone more or less, I still have the occasional bad dream but I'm sleeping fine mostly," Elizabeth told her and Kate nodded, making a note on the small note pad in her lap.

"How are you coping with the work you're being given?" she asked.

"Fine, it's good to feel useful again and do tasks that are little more familiar, fishing and hunting were never really my thing," Elizabeth replied humorously, she considered it a big step that she could make jokes about her time with the Krayle, a few weeks ago it had been nothing but bad memories she wanted to forget.

"I don't think I'd enjoy them much either, I hear Carson's a fishing fan though," Kate stated thoughtfully.

"Elizabeth smiled "Maybe we should compare notes."

"Maybe," Kate replied "Are you nervous about Dr Mathews coming back in three weeks?"

"A little, I think I'm doing a lot better now than when he was here before. Taros had just died and I felt like my life had become one big rollercoaster but I'm feeling a lot more like my old self again now so I should be able to handle him," Elizabeth told her and Kate smiled and nodded.

"I suppose in your line of work you've dealt with people like him a million times before," Kate said as she made more notes.

"I think there are probably people like him in most lines of work," Elizabeth stated. "Every time the subject is brought up Jack makes a point of informing people how much he doesn't like Mathews."

"How are you getting along everyone?"

"Great," Elizabeth replied "I think everyone was glad to see me back in Atlantis."

"We most definitely were," Kate told her with a smile "So all in all you're feeling much more settled."

"Yes, definitely, there are a few not so good days but other than that," Elizabeth said honestly, she knew that if Kate suspected she wasn't being truthful – and the woman had caught her out several times in their earlier sessions – she would push a little harder and probably think Elizabeth was going backward in her recovery instead of forward. She'd found it best just to be honest with the woman from the beginning and save them both some time.

"That's good, I have to say Elizabeth, I'm very pleased with the progress you're making, you seem to be doing much better," Kate stated, closing the note book and putting it on the desk behind her. "I think we can cut our sessions back, forget the appointment on Friday and I'll see you next week instead."

Elizabeth tried not to react to the news that she would be seeing less of her psychologist. She liked Kate but she'd much rather see her outside of this office. She thanked her and stood, leaving the room.

* * *

Jack liked Atlantis, he like the family atmosphere which was slowly rebuilding itself now that Elizabeth was back in the city. He walked into the cafeteria where he saw Major Lorne eating; he joined the young officer, deciding it would be best to wait for the cafeteria queue to decrease before he joined it.

"Major, mind if I take a seat?" he questioned and Lorne gestured to the chair opposite him, his mouth too full of food to speak. "Anything good on the menu?"

"McKay will be pleased to know they're serving lemon chicken today," Lorne joked "There's cake up there too."

"Cake you say," Jack replied, a hint of awe in his voice, he really did like cake.

"Chocolate too sir," Lorne told him and Jack was fairly sure his eyes lit up, that really long queue had better not eat it all.

Jack was about to respond when shouting caught his attention, Lorne sighed recognising the voice and both men looked over to the cafeteria queue where Malar was shouting angrily at the cafeteria staff.

"You call this food, I have been waiting in line for almost fifteen minutes for this!" he yelled and Jack's idea of the Ancients as calm people was shattered in an instant. Both Lorne and Jack stood up, walking over to the queue and the irate Ancient.

"Problem Malar?" Lorne questioned and Malar turned around to see the two men.

"Yes there's a problem, this food is unacceptable, I can't be expected to eat this," Malar exclaimed.

"We could always send you back to the planet you were living on before," Jack stated. "I hear you liked it there."

"Those people were even more primitive than you," Malar told them.

"Well that's your choice Malar, so why don't you stop complaining about the food and get yourself some cake," Jack suggested and Malar glared furiously at him.

"My opinions will not be dismissed so easily, especially not by a human," Malar began to protest but another voice cut him off.

"People are trying to eat here Malar, so why don't you sit down and shut up or leave," Ronon told the Ancient as he moved to stand between Lorne and Jack, his intimidating presence and straight to the point statement seemed to silence Malar. The man glared at them all for a moment before walking out of the cafeteria with his head held high.

"That man's gonna drive us all crazy," Lorne stated once the Ancient had left and everyone had gone back to their meals.

"I think I'll talk to Elizabeth, maybe she can talk some sense into him... or at least get him to shut up," Jack said as he joined the back of the queue having spotted the dwindling amount of cake left.

* * *

John stared at the report in front of him, he knew it should be on Sam's desk by now but he couldn't bring himself to actually finish it. He was slowly making his way through it one sentence at a time, hopefully he'd have it finished before Sam got on his case about it, the mission had been four days ago now.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking at the walls of his office and deciding he still didn't like it in here. He'd been forced to use this room though until they got Elizabeth's office back which would hopefully be a few weeks away. He wasn't going to lie to himself, he was nervous about the IOA's visit in three weeks. Elizabeth had made excellent progress, she was much more like her old self again now but if the IOA were looking for an excuse to replace they'd find one no matter how well Elizabeth was doing.

There was a knock at the door and the very subject of his thoughts walked in. "Hey," he greeted as Elizabeth stepped into his office closing the door behind her.

"Hey," she replied with a smile.

"How'd it go with Kate?" he asked and she shrugged.

"Same as always, she cut down our sessions though, said I'm doing very well," she told him and he smiled.

"Well that's good," he said, wondering why she didn't sound as happy about it as she should.

"I don't know if it'll be enough for the IOA though," she told him and John's unvoiced question was answered, it should have been obvious really since he had just been thinking the same thing.

"Nervous?" he questioned.

"A little," she admitted.

"It'll be fine, whatever happens we'll figure it out," he reassured and she nodded her head, the worried look still not gone from her face as she changed the subject.

"I would have come to see you sooner but Rodney tried to blow us all up again," she stated and John narrowed his eyes at her but let the matter go, he knew it would come up again sooner or later.

"Is he still trying to activate that device Lorne's team found last week?" John questioned and when Elizabeth nodded her head John sighed, standing up and making his way around his desk to where she stood. "You think the man would have learned, that thing electrocuted him last time he tried to switch it on."

"I think he just wants to know what it is," Elizabeth told him. "Though the massive energy build up will probably kill us all first."

"You know McKay, anything for science," John stated and Elizabeth laughed softly as John moved his hands to her waist pulling her closer to him.

"Carter has forbidden him from even touching the device now and she had me come along for support," Elizabeth informed him.

"Yeah well, you're the only person that McKay really listens to... willingly, the rest of us threaten him into compliance," John joked and Elizabeth smiled and shook her head. She went quiet then, staring thoughtfully at his chest and John could actually see the worry returning to her face.

"Stop worrying," he told her making her look up at him "You'll give yourself wrinkles."

"Well in that case," Elizabeth said and John kissed her softly just as there was a knock on the door. He kissed her again, releasing her and taking a step back to lean against his desk whilst Elizabeth stayed where she was.

"Come in," he called and the door opened revealing Jack O'Neill.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt I was just looking for Elizabeth, figured she'd be here," Jack stated knowingly and John chose to remain silent.

"Well you found me," Elizabeth replied expectantly.

"Do you think you could talk to Malar, he's causing trouble all over the city? I just came from what promised to a very enjoyable dinner with cake and he almost ruined it for me," Jack asked her.

"What makes you think I can talk to him, he doesn't like me anymore than the rest of you," she stated and Jack shrugged.

"He knows you better and you've always been good at talking to people, you're a diplomat, you can negotiate for his silence," Jack suggested with a smile and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"I'll talk to him."

* * *

Out of boredom Laura had wondered to the infirmary where she found Carson with a patient. She waited by the door, leaning against the wall and watching as the young woman described her symptoms to the doctor.

"It sounds like you have a wee bit of a stomach bug, it should be gone in a day or two," Carson told her, walking over to a cabinet and pulling out a small medicine bottle. "Take two of these before you go to sleep tonight and two more in the morning, if you don't feel better in a few days come back here."

The woman took the bottle gratefully and hopped down from the bed she'd been sitting on to leave. Carson finally saw Laura standing by the door and smiled. "Hello love," he greeted and Laura returned his smile taking several steps toward him.

"Hey yourself," she replied.

"I take it you're bored," he stated and Laura looked offended.

"I do not have to be bored to come and see you," she told him and he shook his head.

"I'm sorry love but I'm a wee bit busy at the moment, I have a lot of paper work to do and a patient coming in a few minutes to get his stitches removed," Carson informed her apologetically and Laura walked passed him to sit on one of the beds. "What are ye doing?"

"I'm sick, I need a doctor," she said and Carson smiled and shook his head as he walked toward her.

"Really," he questioned and she nodded her head. Carson rolled his eyes but decided to play along. "And what seems to be the problem?"

"Well, you see I've been getting these really hot flashes and I need a certain doctor to help me..." Laura began but Carson cut her off.

"Laura," he said loudly, sharply making sure she didn't finish whatever it was she had been planning to say.

"What?" she questioned as though she had no clue why she was being scolded and then started laughing. "You're so easily embarrassed sometimes."

"I have work to do," he told her, stepping forward to kiss her quickly before offering her his hand to help her jump down from the bed. "Meet me in the cafeteria in the hour?" he questioned and she nodded her head with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Then maybe we can go to my quarters and discuss my problem further," she stated laughing.

"Laura Cadman," Carson scolded.

"Okay fine, your quarters then," she pretended to correct herself.

"Go, now, before I rethink my relationship with ye," Carson ordered and she pouted for a moment.

"I don't think so, you love me too much," she replied and Carson smiled, kissing her again before she wondered out of the room to find someone else to annoy, where was Evan?

* * *

Elizabeth tried not to roll her eyes as Malar took his time answering the door, when he finally did the Ancient stared at her expectantly and slightly surprised. "Can I come in?" she questioned when it became apparent that manners would not be involved in this conversation, at least not from him. He stepped back, albeit reluctantly and Elizabeth took the invitation and walked into his room. It was as sparse as when he had been given it, Taros, she remembered had his filled his room with candles and few of his belongings that had survived the replicator siege in the short amount of time he'd been here.

I hear you've been causing some trouble," Elizabeth stated, deciding to get straight to the point, she doubted small talk would help or be welcomed here.

"If you're referring to the minor disagreement I had with your cafeteria staff..." Malar began but Elizabeth cut him off there.

"From what I've heard that was not a minor disagreement Malar," she told him "And that's only part of what I'm talking about. You've been going around the city making everyone's life hell, including your own, for over three weeks now."

"Truthfully Dr Weir I do not believe that you and your people have earned the right to control this city, to call it home," Malar stated. "You are a primitive race, childish in every respect as is the rest of humanity. This city belongs to the Ancients, not you."

"What is it about humanity that you dislike so much?" Elizabeth asked "We have made great progress over the years, some more than others but we've all done it without your help and under the threat of one alien culture or another. Humanity has not only survived but thrived, making our own progress, slowly but still making it. What is it that you have to look down on?"

Malar didn't reply, he just stared at her so Elizabeth continued.

"The Ancients are no more or less than we are, you've made mistakes, some of them are still causing havoc and destruction throughout the galaxy. Do you want to know the biggest difference between Ancients and humans? ... We don't walk away from our mistakes, wash our hands of them and let everyone else pay the price. We do whatever we can to fix them, to put them right and then we learn from them," she told him and Malar continued to stand there silently though he looked more like a dear caught in headlights not knowing how to respond.

"We're all you have Malar, us, so I suggest you stop hating us and get used to it, that or you can leave," she finished and walked out of the room without waiting for a response from Malar, she just hoped she'd gotten through to him.

* * *

Major Ander's team left the briefing room, their debrief had been short and their mission routine, Anders was still new to Atlantis but he seemed to fitting in well, his team respected him and so far he hadn't gotten himself in trouble off world, it was just a matter of time though. Sam gathered up the few files she'd had with her when she'd arrived for the briefing and was about to head up to her office when Jack popped his head through the door.

"Hey," he greeted stepping fully into the room when he realised she wasn't busy. "Interesting debriefing?" he questioned.

"Not really, routine mission," she replied and Jack frowned.

"How boring for them," he stated and Sam smiled, they'd always hated routine missions on SG1, though when it all kicked off and they were fighting for their lives they were usually wishing for routine.

"Major Anders is still settling in, routine is probably a good thing," she replied with a shrug.

"I thought you should know," Jack began after a moment's silence. "I'll be leaving at the end of the week."

Disappointment ran through Sam like a wave, she'd gotten used to having Jack here over the last few weeks. It was nice having him around especially when, despite having been here for over five months, everything around her felt so unfamiliar. She nodded her head slowly when she realised she hadn't responded and Jack took it upon himself to fill the silence.

"I've been here longer than I probably should have, I was told to go back a week ago and there's really nothing to justify me staying here anymore," Jack explained and Sam nodded her head again, wondering where her ability to speak had just disappeared to.

She cleared her throat and willed her voice to return to her. "Well, hopefully I'll be following you in a few weeks," she stated, glad that words had actually come out.

"That really what you want?" Jack questioned and Sam looked at him confused. "Atlantis is a great command; most people would kill to have it."

"It's not my command though, it Dr Weir's besides, everything I care about is on earth," she replied, sharing a look with Jack that she had probably shared with him far too many times since she'd met him. It was really no wonder that they were such a favourite in the rumour mills back on earth, they'd even spread to Atlantis though John and Elizabeth were definitely the favoured topic here.

"I'll let you get back to work, see you later," Jack said and left the room; Sam sighed and finished gathering her files to leave.

* * *

Jack stood in the gate room, the shimmering blue of the stargate standing behind him as it waited to carry him home. Several people had gathered to see him off and he had to admit, though his home was on earth, he was gonna miss this place. "Major Lorne, Dr Beckett, Lieutenant Cadman," he acknowledged the three people standing to the back of the group.

"Teyla, as always it's been a pleasure," he told the young Athosian.

"It has," Teyla replied with a smile and a bow of her head and Jack looked to the much taller figure standing beside her.

"Ronon, I still love your gun," he stated and watched as the Satedan smirked. "McKay, try not to blow up the city."

"I don't..." Rodney began to protest but an elbow in the arm from Ronon quickly shut him up.

Jack then looked at John, stood beside Elizabeth, the young lieutenant Colonel stood up straight saluting him and Jack returned the gesture before shaking his hand. "Look after her Sheppard or you'll have me to answer to," he told him and John smiled almost imperceptibly.

"I will," he replied and Jack nodded and moved onto the next person. To the surprise of all present, Elizabeth stepped forward, her arms going around his shoulders and Jack was even more surprised when he returned the gesture without awkwardness.

"Take care and be yourself, everything will be fine," he told her and she nodded her head.

"I know," she stated and right then Jack knew that she really would be fine now. He turned to the final person he had to say goodbye to and though he knew he'd probably be seeing her again before long he found himself not wanting to leave. He'd already decided that if Mathews or whoever the IOA sent through tried to take Elizabeth from the city he'd be coming back through the gate to fight her corner. So no matter what decision the IOA made, he'd be seeing Sam in a few weeks.

Sam stood there looking unsure of herself which was something he wasn't used to seeing in his former team mate. He once again surprised himself when he stepped forward and hugged her, albeit 

with a little hesitation. She hugged him back but the exchange only lasted a second, they both moved apart, professional distance back in place quickly.

"I'll see you in a few weeks," he told her and she smiled and nodded.

"Hope so," she replied and he took one last look at everyone in the room before he turned around and walked through the gate.

* * *

Elizabeth couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, the Asurans were building a massive fleet of ships capable of reaching earth and earth was about to launch a pre-emptive first strike. The plan sounded good, use a new weapons platform to deliver several nuclear warheads and destroy the shipyards all at once. She had serious misgivings about it though; they could very well be starting a war with a super powerful enemy which in truth, they probably couldn't beat in an all out war.

Earth's new ship, the Apollo would be carrying out the mission, the commander; Colonel Ellis seemed to think it was going to work. She got the distinct impression he didn't like her though, especially when she voiced her misgivings and he very quickly dismissed them.

"Dr Weir is correct," Sam stated and Elizabeth was slightly surprised to hear the military woman agree with her. "There's a lot at risk here, we can't really afford a war with the Asurans."

John however had already shown his interest in the plan; he seemed to be in full support of the idea. "This could seriously cripple them and if we don't attack now and those ships reach earth there'll be nothing we can do, earth will be defenceless."

The rest of the discussion was short, even Rodney and Radek had their reservations about the plan but apparently orders were orders and the plan would be going ahead in twelve hours. Everyone was dismissed and Elizabeth followed John out of the room, he'd be going along for the mission as well. He'd fly a cloaked Jumper through the area to determine if the nukes had done their job.

"You really think this is a good idea?" she asked him, despite herself she was slightly annoyed that her opinion had been so easily disregarded. She knew she shouldn't be, she wasn't in command of the city, she had no say in the decisions being made but still, she was annoyed.

"You really don't?" he questioned back, not answering her and she stared at him for a moment.

"I really don't," she told him before walking away. This wasn't a good idea, she could feel it, this was going to end badly.

TBC


	25. Chapter 25

**Authors Note: So this is the final chapter, it's been a long journey and I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed, you've all kept me going with this. There are spoilers for First Strike and the beginning of season four in this chapter, it would help if you'd seen them but I think it explains everything fairly well for anyone who hasn't seen them. Once again, thanks for all the reviews, you guys are awesome!**

**Sparkly – **I'd never have guessed Pegasus Magic School was your favourite lol. I'm glad you liked the Carson and Laura scene and I love the relationship between Jack and Elizabeth, he's like her protective big brother. Yes, I'm afraid I did end the last chapter with the beginning of first strike, hope you enjoy this one, thanks for the review.

**Saphire – **I'm glad you're still talking to me lol. I'm also glad you liked all the shippyness in the last chapter; I had to get it all out of the way for this one. Yes I am bringing in first strike, it seemed the perfect way to bring the story to a close. Thanks for your reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Atlantis Ori Sheppard – **I have killed a lot of people in this story haven't I? lol. Thanks for the review.

**15AthenaPerry – **Thanks for the review, not really any Malar in this chapter even though it's the last one. I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I hope you enjoy this final chapter.

**Sotherngt – **You'll have to read on to find out what happens to Elizabeth. I'm glad you like the story and I hope you enjoy the final chapter.

**Kuroima – **(tries to balance self on line) I know I'm walking a thin line lol but first strike seemed like a good place to end the story. I'm glad you liked all the shippy scenes in the last chapter and that Laura's part made you laugh. This is the final chapter so I hope you enjoy it, thanks for all your reviews.

**Lia-finn – **I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, especially the Jack and Sam part, I haven't written them in a while so it's good to know it turned out well. Final chapter here so I hope you enjoy it, thanks for your review.

* * *

Chapter 25

The mission had been successful in that they had managed to destroy the ship yards the Asurans had been using to create their fleet but it had also made the replicators mad. They'd sent some kind of vessel with a stargate at its core into orbit and were now firing a continuous beam of energy at Atlantis. According to McKay, the city's shields weren't going to last much longer like this and John really didn't want to think about what would happen when the shields finally failed.

They'd contacted the Asurans, Sam had actually had Elizabeth do the talking knowing that the woman's diplomatic skills far outmatched anyone else's in the city. It hadn't done any good though, Oberoth hadn't bee interested in talking to them. Rodney was currently working on sinking the city, something which would hopefully buy them some time to come up with a better solution.

John walked into the conference room where Colonel Ellis and two airmen were working on laptops, probably trying to find a solution to this mess. "Sir," John said as Ellis looked at him and then dismissed the two airmen.

"What can I do for you John?" he asked.

"We need to head back to the replicator planet," John stated.

"We do, do we?" Ellis questioned, raising an eyebrow at John

"If this satellite weapon is being powered by their home world, maybe we can neutralize it at the source," John explained, it was probably a long shot but they were quickly running out of options.

Elis shook his head. "Well, the Apollo is no condition to get into a battle right now. That beam took a lot out of our shield.

"We gotta do something," John said, his frustration getting the better of him, his guilt wasn't helping much either.

"We did do something," Ellis stated and John repressed a sigh.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I just can't help but think that we're somehow responsible for this," John told him. He should have listened to Elizabeth; he should have known this was a bad idea when both Sam and Elizabeth had voiced their reservations about it.

"Because Weir said so?" Ellis asked and John shook his head.

"No sir."

"John, listen to me," Ellis began. "I uh, I've been over your record. I know it's not exactly spotless but personally, I think you've done a hell of a job here."

"Thank you sir," John replied, wondering where that comment was leading.

"I know Dr Weir is supposed to retake command in three weeks but I think _you_ should be running Atlantis. Not Dr Weir," Ellis told him and for a moment John didn't know what to say to that. He'd spent months trying to find Elizabeth and bring her back here, she belonged here and he'd stood alongside Jack and Sam to fight the IOA and make sure Elizabeth got command of the city back.

"Well then I'd be the man, who would I have rage against?" he chose to joke instead.

"Listen, because of us earth won't have to deal with an armada of replicators so whatever happens here we did the right thing today," Ellis stated and John could only nod his head in response.

Elizabeth might not be military but she was the right person to be running Atlantis, she'd come a long way from the slightly naive diplomat who had come here. She'd grown into the job just as he had and they worked well together, balanced each other out and no matter what Ellis said, Atlantis wouldn't function as well without Elizabeth there.

He had barely spoken two words to Elizabeth since the briefing; he'd barely had a chance to do anything but worry about the replicators. He didn't want to leave things the way they were, they weren't exactly mad at each other but they were happy with each other either. Elizabeth had walked off after the briefing and John hadn't been able to understand why she was so opposed to the mission when the fate of earth was at stake. The giant red beam currently firing at the city had kind of clued him into her line of reasoning now but once this was over they were going to need to sit down and talk.

* * *

Ronon watched as John left the balcony after having made some strange comment about the fantastic four. He'd never understand all his earth references but some of them were definitely stranger than others. Beside him Teyla was once again looking at the beam as it shot through the water and hit the shield above them. They'd submerged the city, hoping that it would buy them some time to come up with a more permanent solution. It hadn't bought them as much time as they'd hoped for, a few extra hours and Ronon was beginning to wonder how they were going to get out of this one.

"It almost looks beautiful," Teyla stated.

"Yeah if it wasn't about to kill us all," Ronon replied.

"You do not believe Rodney and the others will find a way to save the city?" she questioned, looking from the beam to him.

"We've managed to get ourselves out of every bad situation we've faced but sooner or later... everyone's luck runs out," Ronon stated and Teyla smiled slightly, her calm, reassuring smile that he had quickly come to love about her.

"We have become extremely adept at beating the odds," she said, glancing up at the beam again. "We have no reason to believe this time will be any different."

"Well just in case," Ronon began, walking towards her brushing her hair behind her ear. "I love you."

It was the first time he'd ever been able to tell her that, to find those three words and actually say them but there was a chance that he might not be able to say them again. She smiled and he hoped she knew how true those words were, hoped she'd always known.

"I love you," she replied, leaning up to kiss him.

* * *

This was probably one of the more insane plans they'd come up with in a while but given that it had come from the heads of both Sheppard and McKay, that wasn't really all that surprising. They were actually going to fly the city, take it off the planet and into space to find a new home. That wasn't even the most insane part of the plan; they were going to move an asteroid into the path of the energy beam to give Atlantis time to take off.

Lorne sighed as he shifted to get comfortable in the seat of his F-302; the large asteroid loomed in front of him. "Alright guys we need to get close enough to clamp onto it, get enough of us drilled in 

and fly it out like a ship, a really slow ship... it's probably gonna be a real pain in the ass to steer but a ship nonetheless, " he told the squad of F-302s that were following him.

He approached the asteroid, steering his F-302 carefully until it connected with asteroid and he clamped on.

"Okay, let's take this big girl for a stroll, flights three and four begin your burn," he instructed and he was rather surprised when the asteroid actually began to respond. "Son of a bitch, we might be able to pull this off after all. Flights one and two begin your burn."

* * *

"It's actually working?" Sam asked, she was slightly surprised but given the number of crazy plans they'd pulled off as SG1, she really shouldn't be, they'd blown up a sun for crying out loud.

"It's slow going, but yes, they're bringing it toward the planet," Rodney replied and Sam was reminded again of how much the scientist had been changed by his time here on Atlantis. She'd noticed it right from the very beginning, he was still arrogant and annoying but a little less so, he'd become very much a part of the family here, a family he would fight for which she would never have expected from him when she'd known him on earth.

"It should be able to get her before our cut of time," John added and Sam nodded her head.

"So we can actually do this?" Elizabeth asked.

"I think so... yes," Rodney replied.

"Guess, we should let everyone know," Sam stated and then turned to Elizabeth. "I think you should make the announcement," Sam told her; these were her people after all.

Everyone stared at Sam for a moment but she kept her eyes on Elizabeth who smiled gratefully and turned to Chuck.

"Patch me to the PA, please," she said and Chuck did so, giving her a nod. "May I have your attention? As you all know, we have found ourselves in a spot of trouble. The reality is no matter where we try to hide on this planet the replicator satellite will be able to track us. Therefore Dr McKay and Colonel Sheppard have come up with a rather ingenious way for us to escape the satellites range all together. In the next few hours we will fire the city stardrive and head into space. Atlantis is leaving this planet."

* * *

Elizabeth watched and waited through the final preparation for the plan, in space Lorne was just arriving with the satellite, John was down in the chair room and many of Atlantis' personnel had been transported to the Apollo, despite his protests Malar had been transported up there as well.

"Are you ready Sheppard?" Rodney asked and John's voice came through the radio.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," he stated, there was a barely hidden nervousness in his voice and for a moment Elizabeth considered going down to the chair room, she wasn't doing much up here anyway but truth be told she needed to be here.

Rodney had a brief conversation with Lorne as Elizabeth moved to stand by on of the control stations with Sam.

"Package is away and on course, we're heading back to the Apollo...good luck," Lorne's voice told them over the radio and Elizabeth took a deep calming breath. This was either going to be very successful or spectacularly unsuccessful. Ronon and Teyla were stood to the side of the room, both of them looking a little nervous.

"Okay, calculating travel time and current speed. That's it, we're good, here goes nothing," Rodney stated, pressing several buttons and the city shuddered as it began to rise out of the water. Elizabeth put her hand onto the control station beside her to steady herself.

"The asteroid is entering the beam," Rodney informed them all. "We're on the surface, fire the stardrive," he instructed John through the radio and a different type of vibration ran through the city as the stardrive came online. "We're not flying high enough, it's stalling out," McKay said after several moments beginning to sound slightly panicked.

"This is not working," John's voice came through the radio.

"What are you doing wrong?" Rodney questioned.

"Don't you blame me," John replied in annoyance. "We don't have enough power."

"Oh sure, blame me," Rodney responded sarcastically.

"Its not working, what other reasons could there be?" John asked.

"I have no more power to give you," Rodney told him, his panic becoming a little more obvious now and Elizabeth looked to the window and then back to Rodney.

"Lower the shield," she instructed and Rodney looked at her like she'd grown another head.

"We're about to go into space, if you plan on breathing we need the shield," Rodney argued and before Elizabeth could reply, John's voice cut in through the radio.

"Turn it back on at 18,000 ft," he said and Rodney continued to look unsure.

"Do it," Sam ordered. "We just need the boost."

Rodney did as instructed. "Okay I did it, give it all you've got," Rodney said and other than the rumbling of the city there was silence throughout the control room. "That's it we're flying," McKay exclaimed, breaking the quiet.

Elizabeth heard Rodney say he was raising the shield as she approached the large window at the top of the gate room stairs. She could see the blue sky morphing into the star studded blanket of space. She saw the flash of light to late and the next thing she registered was hitting the ground.

* * *

John ran into the control room, the city had just gone into hyperspace when he'd heard Rodney's call over the radio for a medical team. The control room was in pieces, bits of control stations littered the floor and sparks were still flying out of some now open circuitry. Teyla, Ronon and Rodney were crowded around one of the stations, all of them covered in cuts. Sam was just approaching the group, looking worse of than them with several shards of glass still imbedded in her skin as one of the doctors followed her and tried to get her to stand still.

His eyes searched the room, panicking when he didn't immediately find Elizabeth but he spotted her near the door with one of the doctors. She looked like Sam did, cuts covering her face and neck as the doctor pulled a final shard of glass out of one of her cuts. "You'll need to come to the infirmary," the doctor told her and she shook her head.

"You have other patients to deal with doctor, I'll come down when I get the chance," she stated and the doctor looked about to argue but decided against it and moved on.

John made his way across the room to her, not caring at that point who else was there. She saw him coming and smiled slightly, it wasn't reassuring for him enough though so he threw his arms around her, pulling her smaller body against his own. He held her for longer than was probably appropriate given their current location but he really didn't care. When he pulled back he ran his finger gently over the cuts on her face.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The beam must have broken through the asteroid quicker than we were expecting it to, it grazed the tower. I was standing by the window," she told him gesturing toward the gate room stairs he had just run up and he turned around, having already seen the state of the window on his way here. She should be far worse off than she was if she'd been standing in front of that. "I didn't even see the beam coming until it was too late, Carter did though, she'd been standing next to me. She dragged us both to the floor so we wouldn't be hit by the worst of the explosion, we both fell part way down the stairs but she probably saved my life."

John pulled her back against his chest, he saw Sam looking at them from across the room, sending her a silent thank you and she smiled and nodded her head. He finally released Elizabeth, walking back across the room with her to where Teyla was trying to convince Ronon to get the glass removed from his shoulder and Ronon was refusing.

"Ronon go to the infirmary," John ordered as he walked passed, ignoring Ronon's glare as he was led away by one of the doctors. "You guys alright?" John asked as he reached McKay and Sam.

"All things considered, the beam grazed the tower before the shield was completely closed, we took minimal damage, I managed to get the shield up pretty quick so it took the brunt of it," Rodney explained just as there was beeping from his console. "What now?"

There was a jolt which John recognised as the city dropping out of hyperspace, a fact Rodney quickly confirmed.

"Have we reached M12 578?" Teyla questioned, appearing beside Elizabeth.

"No, it should have taken another few more hours," Sam stated, moving to stand beside Rodney and examine the console. "The hyperdrive just shut down."

"Why?" John asked.

"I don't know," Rodney replied.

"Get it back up."

"I just said I don't know what's wrong, I can't get it back up if I don't know what happened," Rodney explained in annoyance.

"Where are we?" Elizabeth asked.

"I have no idea, there's no moons, no planets," Rodney began to answer but was cut off by Sam.

"This can't be right," She said worriedly her gaze focused on the console. "At current consumption we've got only got 24 hours of power left."

"What?" Rodney questioned, looking over her shoulder. "Without the shield we have no atmosphere and without the atmosphere..."

"Can we use the stargate?" Teyla questioned, stopping Rodney before he could explain what having no atmosphere meant, none of them needed to be told.

"We'd have to be in orbit of a planet to use its address," Sam explained.

"Look," Rodney began in the tone he used when he was about to bottom line something. "We dropped out of hyperspace way too soon; I have no idea where we are."

* * *

Elizabeth thought it was rather fortunate than the three greatest scientific minds she knew of were all on Atlantis at that moment. Between them they'd managed to find ways to save powers including evacuating the city to the control tower and collapsing the shield to cover just that area. Now they were all doing something very cleaver with crystals from secondary conduits, something about interfacing them with the primary conduits that were damaged. Hopefully, between the three of them, they'd get it done before they reached the asteroid field that was looming ahead of them.

"How long until we reach it?" Elizabeth asked and the Japanese technician sighed.

"Forty five minutes."

Elizabeth nodded her head, tapping her earpiece to contact Sam and tell her the news.

"You're kidding me right?" Sam asked sounding as exasperated as Elizabeth felt.

"I'm afraid not," Elizabeth replied.

"Well we should be done here in about forty five minutes," Sam told her.

"That would be exactly how long we have," Elizabeth stated, glad that Sam had been here along with Rodney and Radek. The three of them had bounced ideas off each other and come up with solutions much faster than if any one of them hadn't been there.

"Then we'd better get this done quick," Sam finished.

"In the meantime have everyone with the gene meet me in the Jumper bay, if the science trio can't get it done in time we're gonna need to clear a path through the asteroid field," John said as he walked up beside her.

* * *

"We're done," Rodney said as he walked into the control room with Radek and Sam just as Elizabeth was about to tell John and his team to take the Jumpers and clear the asteroids out of their path. "We should be able to jump into hyperspace."

Elizabeth turned to Chuck who had been monitoring the large asteroid which would be the first the city would impact. "Two minutes ma'am."

"We'll be long gone by then," Sam said as Rodney worked at one of the consoles. Without warning Elizabeth felt the city lurch and relief flooded through her as Rodney announced they were back in hyperspace.

* * *

They had landed more or less safely on M12 578, Sam was now sitting in her office writing up her final report for the day. Carson had told her several times to go and get some rest but she needed to get this done, of all the reports she'd written since coming to Atlantis, this was by far the most important.

The city was still a mess in some areas having taken damage during their few hours floating through space. The control room and part of the gate room still looked like a disaster zone and everyone that had been there during the explosion was still covered in cuts and bruises that would have them wincing at every movement they made once the adrenaline wore off.

Her own adrenaline levels were quickly plummeting now and she could feel her bodies need for sleep. She signed the report, ready to be sent to earth in the morning and left the office, heading for her quarters.

The team had done well today; it had felt almost like being a part of SG1 again. The crazy adrenaline rush and the desperate race to get themselves out of trouble before they ended up dead, the whole thing had felt very familiar.

They'd gotten their people back from the Apollo so the more rested people were taking over running the city and cleaning up the mess while those of them who had struggled through the last twenty four hours got their injuries seen to and caught up on their sleep. She smiled to Lorne as she walked through the control room, leaving the city in his capable hands.

* * *

It had been three days since they'd reached their new home, the city was looking much better, the majority of the repairs had been done and everyone's injuries were healing. Elizabeth, Sam, Teyla and Ronon all stood in the gate room together, the four of them covered in slowly fading cuts making for a rather amusing sight. John was with them, the only person uninjured by the explosion.

Jack stepped through the gate in front of them, a smirk on his lips as he took in the sight before him. "Well don't you lot make for an interesting sight," he stated.

"It's the new fashion sir," John replied and Elizabeth tried not to roll her eyes, watching as Sam seemed to lose whatever fight she'd put up against the urge. John and Jack's sense of humour was far too similar.

"How's Atlantis doing?" he asked, looking around him at the few repairs that were still being made.

"Most of the repairs have been done, we're mostly just working on secondary systems that took some damage now," Sam told him and Jack smiled and nodded his head. A silent message seemed to pass between them, Jack's eyes darting to Elizabeth for a split second. "Why don't we take this to the briefing room?"

"I promised to have lunch with Carson and Laura, I will see you all later," Teyla stated and left, Ronon as expected following after her. It seemed that wherever the young Athosian went these days Ronon was always close by. The rest of the group made their way to the briefing room, Sam sitting on one side with Jack and John and Elizabeth sitting opposite them.

"I want to get this out of the way first," Jack began "I spoke to Dr Mathews just before I came here."

Elizabeth felt her body stiffen despite her efforts not to react; she wasn't supposed to have to deal with Mathews for another two weeks.

"He won't be coming in two weeks, he's already made his decision," Jack stated and Elizabeth held her breath. "Carter will be returning to earth with me at the end of the week and the city is yours."

Elizabeth released the breath she'd been holding, relief running through her and she couldn't quite keep the smile off her face. Beneath the table John took hold of her hand, squeezing it gently and running his thumb over her knuckles.

"What brought on that decision?" John asked and Elizabeth looked at Sam both curiously and suspiciously when the woman looked at the floor with just a little too much innocence.

"Carter wrote a rather interesting report and sent it to Mathews a few days ago; she had a lot of good things to say about your performance throughout the entire incident, your ability to run the city and how much better the city functions with you at the helm," Jack explained, smiling and seemingly taking far too much pleasure out of tattling on Sam.

Elizabeth looked at Sam, feeling slightly overwhelmed and Sam shrugged. "I may have said some of those things," she stated, trying to shrug that matter off, Jack having clearly succeeded in embarrassing her.

"The point is, Atlantis is once again your command."

* * *

Elizabeth knew she would miss the sunsets on the old planet but they were beautiful on this planet. She stared out at the ocean before her, knowing now that none of this was about to be taken from her. For the first time since they'd rescued the Ancients from the void between galaxies, life was calm and settled. No imminent threats, no IOA trying to remove her from the city, Malar had finally accepted his fate or at least he'd stopped complaining about it. He'd actually sat down and had dinner with her and John's team the other day.

She smiled inwardly when the balcony door opened and John stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He didn't say anything; they just stood there in silence for several minutes staring out at the massive ocean.

"Right now, we're safe," John stated. "The IOA are of our backs for now, the replicators don't know where we are, the Wraith don't know. I won't be going off world for a while since my entire team was in the control room during the explosion, I'm not letting you out of my sight until I have to," John listed and then sighed. "We don't just get to be safe very often, there's always some reason for us to be worried."

"Well, then" Elizabeth began taking her eyes off the ocean and turning in John's arms to look at him. "We'll just have to enjoy it while we can. We're starting a whole new life here and if you can manage to keep out of trouble for a while, we should enjoy this quiet while we have it."

John smiled, leaning forward to kiss her and as Elizabeth deepened the kiss they forgot all about the sunset.

THE END


End file.
